the photo essay deals with ethiopia’s controversial urbanisation and the transformative spaces within the city. it explores various stages of urbanisation, the gradual transition from rural to urban spaces, inner-city migration, and the emergence and disappearance of different areas. the essay weaves together a network of exchanges through a series of images and a collection of conversations. it focuses on the rural-urban transformation in the eastern periphery of addis ababa, where geographical, ethnic, and social fault lines intersect. the narrative moves from the disappearing spaces on the eastern side of the akaki gorge to the emerging urban areas, including social housing settlements and gated communities of luxury villas. this photo series is part of the ‘momentography of a failure’ project, a collaboration between ethiopian urbanists, professional and non-professional photographers, and residents of various neighbourhoods. the ‘momentography of a failure’ conducted a workshop that was part of the collaborative artistic research for the documentary film rift finfinnee (2020) by daniel kötter, and was led by nafis fathollahzadeh, bisrat kifle, daniel kötter, and the center for photography in ethiopia (cpe).
Keywords:
ethiopia has undergone massive changes in the last decade in the context of industrialisation, massive urban renewal projects and infrastructure development. tsedeke woldu, the entrepreneur, developer and ceo of flintstone homes, stated ‘we will build 8000 new cities in ethiopia in ten years’ and this photo-essay—‘8000 cities’—addresses the urban expansion of addis ababa into the surrounding rural farmlands of the oromia region, formalised in a controversial master plan. this rural-urban transformation in the eastern periphery of addis ababa, from farmlands to housing settlements, and from disappearing places to emerging spaces, has involved the expropriation of land, house demolition and relocation of displaced residents.
the oromia region is the largest of ethiopia’s nine federal regions and the ethnic oromo people account for 35% of the country’s population, inhabiting the lands surrounding addis ababa. the master plan raised concerns among many oromos about adequate compensation and the danger of displacement, finally escalating to violent anti-government protests that led to the declaration of a nine-month state of emergency in 2016. although the master plan was abandoned, addis ababa’s enlargement has already displaced millions of oromo farmers and trapped them in poverty, evicted from their land and natural resources. the protests swept abiy ahmed to power as the first oromo prime minister in 2018 and protests have continued in recent years, calling for justice, better compensation and equal housing distribution. in march 2019, in the wake of the latest wave of housing development and displacement, oromo farmers arranged a protest in addis ababa calling ‘afti keenya lafee keenya’ (‘our land is our bone’). however, their call for justice did not reach the new governing system and the urban expansions continued transforming a large amount of the eastern oromia’s farmlands into gated communities of luxury villa settlements in the legetafo district.
the photo-essay intertwines a series of photographs with a collection of conversations between dwellers of three districts in the oromio farmlands:
dingaja village and chari village on the northern side of akaki river.
gated community of luxury villas developed by country club developers, ccd homes, in legetafo,
social housing settlements in bole arabsa and the vac (‘very far away condominiums’).
