Tsedaye Makonnen is a multidisciplinary artist whose studio, curatorial, and research-based practice are envisioned as intimate and protective sanctuaries for Black lives. The current recipient of a permanent large-scale public art commission for the city of Providence in Rhode Island, Tsedaye is also preparing an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for fall 2023. She performed at the 2022 Venice Biennale for Simone Leigh’s Loophole Retreat, and has performed previously at the Venice Biennale, Art Basel Miami, Chale Wote in Ghana, El Museo del Barrio,  Fendika in Ethiopia, FIAP in Martinique, Queens Museum, the Smithsonian institutions in Washington, D.C., among others. In 2019, Tsedaye was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, and in fall 2022 she was in residence at the Clark as Futures Fellow. She is represented by Addis Fine Art, and lives between Washington, D.C., and London.  

This conversation was recorded on December 8, 2022.