I carry portable paradises with me wherever I go: Ethiopian artisanal jewellery; and English poetry.
As the poem by Roger Robinson and the artisanal jewellery below.
My pewter paradise storage box
Ethiopian artisanal jewellery is made primarily by the lost wax method. The materials are copper alloy and artisanal silver and, more rarely, artisanal gold.
An icon necklace with paintings of the Holy Family accompanied by St. George and an archangel. Made of artisanal silver and painted in northern Ethiopia before 1974
It is made by rural smiths following techniques handed down for generations.
It also carries anguish, a sorrow of many, many generations: it is not made to be sold by the women for whom it is made.
as above
If it is sold, it is because of extreme need.
Famine and war in northern Ethiopia. Then it piles up in the jewellery shops in Addis Ababa. In 1994, I found piles of artisanal jewellery from Ethiopia behind a vitrine in Soho, NY. This followed the famine of 1984-86 which is estimated to have killed one million Ethiopians.
Such need has come again after 30 years of its absence. To our never-ending dismay.
The Ethiopian north is overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian with a not insignificant population of Moslems also.
Their artisans have evolved uncounted varieties of cross shapes; represented here in artistic form:
Sennait and Nahomi, the Peacemaker and the Comforter; acrylic, mirror, LED lights, hardboard, 2019.
Tsedaye Makonnen, American born 1984. Smithsonian African Museum of Art, Washington, DC loan to the Walters Museum, Baltimore in 2023-24.
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A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson, Trinidadian-British, born 1967
And if I speak of Paradise, then I’m speaking of my grandmother who told me to carry it always
Crosses of artisanal silver and copper alloy. Made in northern Ethiopia before 1974
on my person, concealed, so no one else would know but me.
Crosses of artisanal silver and copper alloy. Made in northern Ethiopia before 1974
That way they can’t steal it, she’d say.
Top: earrings of artisanal silver bearing a pre-Christian motif of the crescent moon
Bottom: these earrings are not artisanal. They were made by a professional jeweller in Addis Ababa.
Filigree work is thought to have been introduced by Armenians who settled in Addis in the late 19th century at the invitation of Menelik II.
And if life puts you under pressure, trace its ridges in your pocket,
Necklace of ear picks made of artisanal silver
Ear pick of artisanal silver bearing pre-Christian motifs of sun, star, and crescent moon
smell its piney scent on your handkerchief,
‘Ostrich eggs’ of artisanal silver made in northern Ethiopia before 1974
hum its anthem under your breath.
Lij Alemayehu’s necklace; artisanal silver made before 1974
Alemayehu Teodros (1861-1879) in a photo dating to 1868 taken in England by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1815-1879, English. On display at the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2015.
The subject was the son of the Emperor Teodros (1818-1868) of Ethiopia who took his own life rather than be taken by British Robert Napier’s punitive expeditionary force who entered Ethiopia to rescue British hostages.
Alemayehu Teodros was raised in Great Britain, He died young and is buried in a communal grave outside St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
as above
And if your stresses are sustained and daily,
Above: necklace of coral beads and artisanal copper
Below: necklace of false amber and worked beads of artisanal silver
get yourself to an empty room – be it hotel, hostel or hovel – find a lamp
Anklets of artisanal silver using the penis as male fertility symbol; made in northern Ethiopia before 1974
and empty your paradise onto a desk: your white sands, green hills and fresh fish.
A necklace of artisanal silver using the female breast as fertility symbol; made in northern Ethiopia before 1974
Shine the lamp on it like the fresh hope of morning, and keep staring at it till you sleep.
Cross of artisanal silver made in northern Ethiopia before 1974
