Matti Pohjonen at the World Heritage Site the Semien Mountains National Park. (Courtesy Photograph)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Tuesday, January 28th, 2014
New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopia in the 1980s was widely televised as a tumultuous history of famine, drought, war and dictatorship. Politicians, historians, and development experts have all weighed in and written their version of the stark conditions, but what is still missing from that narrative are the voices of the children (both Ethiopian and expatriate) who grew up there during these trying times. Finnish researcher, writer, and visual artist, Matti Pohjonen spent his middle and early teen years in Ethiopia and experienced the contrast of witnessing camps filled with drought victims when he was 9 years old, coupled with the memories of daily life in the capital, Addis Ababa. Since then he has led a largely nomadic life, getting degrees in journalism, international studies, anthropology and media & cultural studies.
Returning to Ethiopia after 20 years he found a rapidly changing society. Yet his memories of the 80′s were once again awakened and he started a Facebook group, now comprising of 488 members, to find other individuals who could share their stories of growing up in Ethiopia during this period. The anecdotes starting pouring in and Matti resolved to create an art-based project called Injera Westerns — a nod to both Ethiopians and foreigners who lived through these times juxtaposing hardship and “normal” daily life.
The stories shared are anything but ordinary — learning to roller-skate in a leprosy ward, noticing that canned milk and nutritional supplements stamped as aid donations for famine victims were being sold as regular goods in markets in the capital city, and everyday coming-of-age tales of friendships, parties, and heartbreaks in the lives of teenagers.
In his own words Matti tries to describe the sentiments born of this endeavor: “I think the untold truth of our lives is simply stranger, more poetic and more surreal than any fiction I have read or any movie I have seen,” he says. “These stories need to be now heard as widely as possible. Moreover, these stories are not about Ethiopia only but touch on universal themes everybody can relate to in their humane laughter and sorrow.”
The Injera Westerns art project aims to tell these stories in a book combining oral and written histories shared over social media accompanied with original photography of Ethiopia’s majestic landscape, as well as ink and watercolor sketches — an ambitious attempt to create a more nuanced version of cultural and political history that includes the children who experienced them first-hand.
If enough funding is received through the indiegogo campaign Matti also looks forward to developing a touring art exhibition of Injera Westerns and the launch of a foundation to benefit Ethiopian organizations that utilize artistic and social work in innovative ways.
Below is a trailer for the Injera Westerns art project crowd funding campaign:
Injera Westerns trailer from Matti Pohjonen on Vimeo.
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You may contribute to the project at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/injera-westerns
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