Artist Biography: Redeat Wondemu

Redeat Wondemu's photography depicts honest emotions and vulnerability of the sitters she portrays. She travels to Ethiopia, her home country, to work on her photography series. Using both digital and film photography, she approaches her sitters with deep thoughtfulness, reverence, and imagination. 

Her fondness for old school analog film photography comes from her memory of her father taking family photos with analog cameras. In the darkroom, she develops her own films and makes her own gelatin silver and alternative prints. Printing her own work allows her to reflect on the beauty and pain of the sitters she portrays.The solitude and physicality of working with her hands allows her to see deeper and tell their stories in an authentic way.   

She graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and pursued her nursing career side-by-side with photography training. In 2021, her series Modern Muse: Portraits of Ethiopian women was exhibited in a Solo Show at the Addis Ababa Museum, Homme Gallery, and Art of Noize Gallery in DC. 

Her series of portraits of working Ethiopians titled “How Irving Penn's Photography Series Inspires Me” was published in The Washington Post. Since then, Wondemu has participated in group shows at Glen Echo Photoworks and at Target Gallery in Virginia. Her Modern Muse Series won best in show in the Photographic Process Group Exhibition at the Art League in Virginia. Her work in making platinum palladium prints has allowed her to be the recipient of The Emerging Artist Small Project Grant at the Craig Kraft Studio.