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. Her work has been pre-sented internationally, including her debut solo exhibition From Addis to Kampala: A Sensory Geography at Afriart Gallery, Uganda in 2025. Selected group exhibitions include Améfrica: Diasporic Connections in the Jorge M. Pérez Collection at Centro Andaluz de Arte Contempo-ráneo, Spain (2026), Woven Sanctuaries at Rele Gallery, Los Angeles (2024), and African Landscapes – Past and Present at Strauss & Co, Cape Town (2024). She has also participat-ed in major art fairs such as Art Basel Miami Beach, Art X Lagos, Taipei Dangdai, FNB Joburg Art Fair, and ZonaMaco.
Selected Press:
The System: In Conversation with Fiker Solomon. 2025
Medium: The Symbolism of Textiles in Contemporary African Art. By Gloria Adegboye. 2025
