Evolution. The trash and pollutants generated by our insatiable consumerism are choking nature, pushing it to the verge of mass extinction. Yet is nature so passive? Maybe not. Maybe nature will not be wiped out so easily. Maybe it will be resilient and evolve with us, adapting to and exploiting our trash, refuse, and pollutants. Or maybe it will be choked by them. In these paintings, I painted grasshoppers, gaunt and quirky insects, meticulously sewing found materials, soda cans, wires, and plastic bottles into their bodies, imagining they have evolved taking it all in.

Revolution. Across the globe, including my home country Ethiopia, young people are putting themselves out there every day, protesting for change in violent and dangerous contexts. Their fight and their plight are documented on social media, amplifying their effort sometimes, but also unmasking and exposing them. When I paint these young people, I make them masks from found materials, soda cans, wires, plastic bottles, anything I find interesting, to protect them and to give them back their anonymity.

Evolution; Revolution. At some point, the two series came together. Grasshoppers, usually solitary insects, transform into destructive plagues of locust swarms when conditions align: an apt metaphor for deep societal change. Under the right circumstances, protests become unstoppable revolutions, toppling old orders.