Portrait nominee

Everything started with questions. Who are we? How do we respond to difficult situations in life? How do people respond to death? What do people wish to see when they are sick and when they think that they could die? How do dying people define life, time, family, friends, and healing? What would people who thought they would die but did not, do differently if they survived sickness?

Then questions like: What can I do to help in this pandemic? I am not a health professional, but I have my camera in my hands and many questions in my heart. I have always been asking the above questions, and as an image artist, I have always been trying to answer them.

When I first heard about the first case in my country, I wanted to help. I took my equipment, went to the market, and got a military green backdrop. I decided to capture the stories of patients in the hospitals and the health workers who are lined up to fight for their country, and family as frontlines.

I interviewed a lot of people, I made great friends. I lived at the hospital, sleeping on a mattress. I built my

Yonas Tadesse is a self-taught artist and photographer born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His work focuses on changing the narrative of Africa and showcasing its rich history to the world.

From a young age, he has been fascinated by the Fine Arts and curious about the stories of others. His drive as an artist comes from the unique stories of the people in his photographs and being able to tell those stories through his work.

Yonas began his journey as a photographer in 2014 showcasing his work at Addis Foto Fest. His work has been published in the New York Times, Time Magazine, the Washington post, CNN, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Bloomberg, BBC, Vogue Italia, and Vogue Germany. He has partnered with the United Nations, AFP/Getty Images and various international organizations such as WaterAid and GIZ. He likes to give back to his community by working with Addis Foto Fest to host workshops and mentor other photographers.

For the last three years, Yonas has been working on an ongoing personal series and book centered around Ethiopian traditional tattoos, the repatriation of Rastafarians, and the Afar people of Ethiopia.

Yonas also enjoys traveling and Dj-ing from time to time.