Sai Mado (The Distant Gaze)

4/7 + 2 AP

Aida Muluneh explores the links and ruptures between generations, as well as the imperfections and disconnects that shape personal and national experience. She says, “As women, especially as African women, we forget—and the world forgets—our positioning in history and religion and culture.” This work is inspired by the Amharic saying, Temetaleh beye, Sai Mado, Sai Mado, ye liinete eyene mouma ende beredo (As I waited for you in a distant gaze, my eyes melted like ice awaiting your return). For Muluneh, the cloud sky symbolizes the uncertainty of relationships, while the image behind the broken glass looks to a past made present through memories.

Full color photograph in which a woman is positioned centrally in profile, seated on a chair. The woman wears a vivid red pants suit, white shirt, and red tie. Her hands have been painted blue, and her face blue and red. Her plain wood chair rests on a black and white checkered floor, and the wall behind is blue with a pattern of white clouds. A framed black and white photo portrait of the woman hangs on the wall to her proper left.

Acquired from the artist, 2016

I Am: Contemporary African Women Artists, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 20, 2019 - April 3, 2022

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