Fiker Solomon explores freedom and growth, nature’s most profound gifts, through vibrant abstract tapestries. Her practice blends traditional techniques with experimental methods refined during her residency at Afriart Gallery’s Silhouette Projects. This pivotal experience allowed her to embrace creative independence and develop her signature approach: free motion, stitching, and punching.
She works with materials like yarn, sisal, palm leaves, and jute sacks, each chosen for its texture and symbolic resonance. Among these, the jute sack holds a central place in her recent works. Often seen as a utilitarian and disposable material, the jute sack mirrors the duality of utility and marginalization in society, representing individuals or communities whose contributions are essential yet undervalued. By reclaiming and elevating this material, she reveals its intricacy and resilience, offering a metaphor for transformation and renewal in both materials and social contexts.
Through her tapestries, she aims to reconnect with the boundless freedom of childhood while addressing societal and cultural constraints. Each piece invites viewers to reflect on growth as a journey of honoring roots while reaching for new heights, an ode to nature’s enduring cycles of renewal.
Fiker holds a BFA in Textile Design from Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University, and specialized in sculpture at Teferi Mekonnen College. She held her debut solo exhibition ‘From Addis to Kampala: A Sensory Geography’ at Afriart Gallery, Uganda in 2025. Her work has been presented internationally, including seminal group exhibitions such as ‘Améfrica: Diasporic Connections in the Jorge M. Pérez Collection’ at Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Spain (2026), ‘Woven Sanctuaries’ at Rele Gallery, Los Angeles (2024), and ‘African Landscapes – Past and Present’ at Strauss & Co, Cape Town (2024). She also participated in major art fairs such as Art Basel Miami Beach, Liste Art Fair Basel, Art X Lagos, Taipei Dangdai, FNB Joburg Art Fair, and ZonaMaco.
Selected Press:
SeaVoice: Learnings from Lake Victoria. 2026
The System: In Conversation with Fiker Solomon. 2025
Medium: The Symbolism of Textiles in Contemporary African Art. By Gloria Adegboye. 2025
