OVAC Fellowship: Eyakem Gulilat

Eyakem Gulilat, Sophie and Eyakem Gulilat, Archival Ink Jet Print, 24” x 50”

The Oklahoma Visual ArtsFellowships recognize Oklahoma artists with outstanding vision, rewarding them for their past achievement and future promise. A guest curator selects the awards through an open call process. The curator for the 2011 Fellowship is Ben Heywood, Executive Director of  The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN.

Gulilat’s photographs address how identity forms in the junctures of cross-cultural encounter. He focuses on communities that are underrepresented and his own memories of new cultures and physical landscapes.

“I treat my camera as a tool that captures one moment of a larger dialogue that occurs between me and my subjects,” said Gulilat. “Photographing the space in-between, along with both my perspective and my subject’s perspective, results in a collapse between boundaries.”

Gulilat received an MFA in Media Art/Photography from the University of Oklahoma and a BAS in Photojournalism and Art from Abilene Christian University.

Read more about the Fellowship winners in Art Focus Oklahoma magazine.

Visit Eyakem Gulilat's website at: www.eyakem.com