Wendimagegn Belete (b. 1986, Ethiopia) currently lives and works between Ethiopia and Norway. He received an MFA in Contemporary Art from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and creative writing, University of Tromsø, Norway in 2017, and BFA from ASFAD, Addis Abeba University, Ethiopia in 2012. Belete’s work is greatly informed by Ethiopian narratives, identity, and history, and contains an encyclopaedic range of information taken from archival photos, texts, stories, video frames, and his own experiences and visual documentation. With an interest in epigenetic inheritance, the idea of a memory that transfers through generations, he encourages the viewer to consider both their cultural and personal identities as an accumulation of past experiences, events, and decisions that continue to pervade and define the present.
Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway (2025); MISS AND HIT, Fabrikken, Denmark (2025); Of Water And The Spirit, Kristin Hjellgjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, USA (2024); A1-L22, Kongsberg Art Association, Norway (2024); Rite of passage, Gallery NOME, Berlin (2024); 1-54, solo booth, with Kristin Hjellegjerde, London, UK (2023); Three Steps North, North Norwegian Artist Centre, Svolær (2023); National Museum, Addis Ababa (2022); Your Gaze Makes me: Wendimagegn Belete, Trøndlag Centre for Contemporary Art, Trondheim, Norway (2022); Codeswitch, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2022); Your Gaze Makes Me, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021); iodeposito, Traveso, Italy (2021); Tenthaus Oslo, NO (2021); Small projects, Tromso, NO (2021); National Museum, Addis Ababa, ET (2020); LNM Gallery/NO (2020); Oppland Kunstsenter, (2020); Moment 2.0, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Nevlunghavn, Norway (2020); Revenant, Fotografiens Hus, NO (2019); ‘Moment’, ‘Andafta’, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2019); Frozen Memories, Østfold Kunstsenter, Fredrikstad/ NO (2018); Are we there yet?, Gallery Snerk, Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, Norway (2017); Unveil, Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, Norway (2016); Nostalgia, LeLa Contemporary Art Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2015).
Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Graz, Austria (2025); (Upcoming) Autograph, London, UK (2025); (Upcoming) Northern Norwegian Museum of Art, Norway (2025); Pansori, a soundscape of the 21st century, 15th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea (2024); Survival Kit 14, Riga, Latvia (2023); Who owns what, Tenthouse Oslo (2023); Bangkok Biennial, Bangkok, Thailand (2022); HacerNoche, Biannual International, Oaxaca, Mexico (2022); Tang Contemporary, Beijing (2022); 5th Biennale Internationale de Casablanca, Morocco (2022); I Call it Art, National Museum of Norway in Oslo (2022); Art Karlsruhe, Rheinstetten, Germany (2022); Artsy Vanguard, Miami, USA (2021); 6th edition of the Future Generation Art Prize, PinkchukArt-Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine (2021); Facing the Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); Sandefjord Kunstforenings Kunstpris, Norway (2021); Mediterranea 19 Young Artists Biennale San Marino, Italy (2021); MUNCH Museum, Tøyem, Norway (2021); Flag Tromsø, Tromso kunstforening, Norway (2020); Oslo Kunstforening and Sparebankstiftelsen DNB exhibition, Norway (2019); YPN Digital Africa (Casablanca) 5th Biennale Internationale de Casablanca, MAR (2019); B#Side War festival, group exhibition in Venice/Treviso -IT (2019); Altering the past, FUSHION, at Youngs Oslo, NO (2019); Exhibition in Rådhusatelierene, No (2019); Et maleri er et dik tuten ord, Akershus kunstsenter, NO (2019); LNM’s 50th anniversary, kunstnerneshus, NO (2018); Høstutstillingen/the autumn exhibition, kunstnerneshus, NO (2018); Portrait nu, Ljungberg Museum, Sweden (2017); 50 Years of Pan Africanism, National Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2015); among more.
Highlights and Collections
In 2025, Wendimagegn Belete will be in residency with ISCP, New York as well as The Fabrikken Foundation for Art and Design, Copenhagen and Klosterneuburg, International Research Center for Cultural Studies University of Art and Design, Linz, Austria. Belete has been shortlisted for the 6th edition of the Future Generation Art Prize. His work can be found in prominent private and public collections such as de Young Museum, California, USA National Museum Norway, Norway; Easton Capital/John Friedman Collection, USA; Bunker Artspace Museum, USA; Collection africanartfirst, Israel; Oslo municipality’s art Collection, Norway; Holbar Collection, Liechtenstein, and The Norwegian Parliament Collection, Norway.