A distinctive voice in Ethiopian art, Ephrem Solomon fuses woodcuts with mixed media to reflect upon life in his native Addis Ababa. Combining real figures and scenarios with figments of his imagination, his works use symbolic and archival material to investigate social, political and cultural themes. Included in Pangaea II: New Art from Africa and Latin America at the Saatchi Gallery in 2015, The Two Sorrow Face (2013) is a striking example of his practice, demonstrating his use of flat, monochrome shapes against swirling patterns and snippets of newspaper text. ‘I love the idea that life is NOW!’, he explains. ‘Not yesterday, tomorrow or in the future … life is today, in the present.’ Over the past few years, Solomon has exhibited internationally at institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the Vestfossen Kunstlaboratoreum, Norway. His works are held in the collections of the Studio Museum, Harlem and the Royal Ontario Museum, among others.