Interdisciplinary artist, Shushan Tesfuzigta, looks to complicate the monolithic understanding of her community. Through her work, Tesfuzigta co-creates a freer future grounded in common struggles while showcasing the everyday mundanities of the Eritrean identity. Through this text and image-based installation and the help of the many tongues of Shushan Tesfuzigta’s communities, I Told You Who Am I seeks to examine and legitimize the knowledge diaspora carries, during times when it is often silenced and overlooked.

Join us for a discussion of this complex and stunning installation with artist Shushan Tesfuzigta in conversation with Sephora Woldu.

‍Shushan Tesfuzigta makes work with her many communities; in Oakland and abroad. She can be spotted riding her red orange bike in the sunny streets of Oakland California. As a proud woman of the diaspora, she considers herself an Eritrean in Exile; making work exploring waste streams, Eritrean urbanism, and women who drink coffee outside the home. Her work has been featured at Joyce Gordon Gallery, the Recology SF AIR program, and Yerba Center for the Arts Fellows program. Currently she is working on a book project, Men of Keih Bahri and continues to build with her haftetat (sisters). Shushan holds a Bachelors in Fine Arts from California College of the Arts and in the fall of 2018 will be a Masters of City Planning candidate at UC Berkeley.

‍Sephora Woldu is an Eritrean American writer and filmmaker based in San Francisco. She founded her studio (Abyssurdian Productions) in 2013, and her films have since garnered awards at institutions including the Brooklyn Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Blackstar Film Festival, Marfa Film Festival, Indie Memphis, and the Montreal International Black Film Festival. Sephora is also a full-time student pursuing a Master’s in Architecture from California College of the Arts and currently works at the design firm IDEO because among other things, she is full of surprises.

‍This program will include a wine reception.