Serge Tiroche had an impromptu encounter with Abekyelesh Belay (b. 1986 Ethiopia, lives and works in Tel Aviv), at her small inaugural exhibition at the Tel Aviv Artists House. He invited Belay to talk at the African Studies Gallery, an evening hosting a large group of the Friends of the Petach Tikva Museum. The evening consisted of a talk and guided tour of the exhibition "Beats of Beads "featuring works by Cyrus Kabiru created on the Africa First Artist Residency.
The evening developed into a very engaging conversation contrasting International art markets with the Israeli one, discussing art investment and social responsibility, transparency and activism, as well as what factors make artists successful and how a single fortuitous encounter is enough to dramatically change the course of a career.
Slideshow of artworks by Abekyelesh Belay