Salem Mekuria
SALEM MEKURIA is a Professor of Art at Wellesley College who teaches art history and studio courses in film history and video production. Professor Mekuria is also an independent film producer, writer, director and video installation artist. Her numerous films and video installations have been shown internationally and have received numerous awards. She is the recipient of: the Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 2005-06; Fulbright Scholar award, 2003-04; The New England Media Fellowship, 2001; the Rockefeller Foundation's Intercultural Media Fellowship, 1995; the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest International Artists Residency Fellowship in 1993; a fellowship at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, Harvard University, 1990-92; and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation Award in 1991.
FILMOGRAPHY
Writer, producer, director, videographer: "IMAGinING TOBIA", I and II, (2006, 2007), a Triptych Video Installation featuring cultural and physical landscapes of Ethiopia. Exhibited at the Stenerson Museum, Oslo, Norway, September, 2007; Addis Ababa Univ., Ethiopia, January, 2008; the 2nd. Biennale of Contemporary Arts, Sevilla, Spain; Harn Museum, U. of Florida, Gainesville, February, 2007. “RUPTURES: A Many-Sided Story”, 2003, a Triptych Video Installation Exhibited at the 50th Venice Biennale, Italy; South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA; The National Center for Afro-American Artists, Boston, 2008.
Writer, producer, director: "YE WONZ MAIBEL" (DELUGE) 1997, a one-hour personal essay on history, conflict, loss and reconciliation. Told through a first-person narrative, it explores the momentous events that took place in Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991. It has won several awards: Heart of the Festival, Vermont Intl. Film Festival, 1998; First Place in the National Black Programming Consortium's Prized Pieces '97; and Director's Citation, in the Black Maria Film & Video Festival, '97. It has been screened internationally, including in: CinemAfrica, Stockholm, Sweden, 2003; Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 2003; Documenta 11, New Delhi, India, 2001; The House of Film Culture, Berlin, Germany; the 6th New York African Film Festival at the Lincoln Center, New York City; Zanzibar International Film Festival; Edge of Awareness - WHO Anniversary World Arts Festival in Geneva, New York, Sao Paolo and New Delhi; Vermont International Film Festival; Amnesty International Film Festival, Amsterdam; African Film Now, Toronto; Deutches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt; the Contemporary African Diaspora Film Festival, New York; CinemaAfrica, Zurich; the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa; African Film Festival, Tokyo; Festival of African Cinema, FESPACO, Burkina Faso; Urban World Film Festival, NY; the Fourth International Women's Film Festival, Minsk, Belarus; the Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, USA; Oakland Museum, Oakland, USA; the 4th Annual International Festival of Women's Cinema, Boston, USA; the Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.
Bio/Filmography - 2
DELUGE was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation Inter-Cultural Media Fellowship, an Anonymous Donor, the LEF Foundation, and Wellesley College Faculty Grants, and it was produced in association with Channel Four Television, UK; and the National Black Prog. Consortium, USA.
"SIDET: Forced Exile", 1991 is a one-hour film documentary portrait of three Ethiopian and Eritrean refugee women in the Sudan. It was filmed on location in the Sudan and was completed in 1991. It won the Silver Apple in the National Educational Film & Video Festival, '93; Honorable Mention, 7th Annual Atlanta Film & Video Festival, '93; 1st. Place in the N. B. P. C. Prized Pieces '92; Outstanding Independent Film, the N. E. Film & Video Festival '92; and Juror's Citation, the Black Maria Film Festival, '91.
SIDET was funded by the Women’s Project, OXFAM Canada, Global Fund for Women, United Nations Development Program for Women, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and it was produced in association with and broadcast by Channel Four TV in England and WDR in Germany.
"AS I REMEMBER IT", A Portrait of Dorothy West, 1991, is a 56 minutes portrait of the late Harlem Renaissance writer, Dorothy West. It was broadcast on WGBH Public Television in Boston in September, 1991. It won the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Gold Award for local programming; First Place, Non-Fiction Category, in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; Honorable Mention in the National Black Programming's Prized Pieces; and was nominated for an Emmy.
AS I REMEMBER IT was funded by the Boston Arts Lottery Grant, Schlesinger Library Research Grant, Mass. Council on Arts & Humanities, Mass. Foundation on the Humanities, the Paul Robeson Fund, WGBH Television, and the Links Foundation.
"OUR PLACE IN THE SUN", 1988 is a 30 minutes video portrait of the Black community on Martha's Vineyard Island. It was broadcast on WGBH-TV in February, 1988, and was nominated for an Emmy.
Additional Fellowships, Grants: Faculty Awards, Wellesley College (‘93, ‘94, ’95, ’96, ’98, ‘99, '00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ‘05, '07); the LEF Foundation (’97, ’00, ’03, '07); National Black Prog. Consortium, CPB (‘93, ‘95, ‘96); Travel Grant, Artists International. (‘92); N. E. Regional Film and Video Fellowship (‘88, ‘92); Channel 4-TV, UK (‘89, ‘92, ‘94); The Women's Project (‘90); United Nations Development Program for Women (‘90); The Anson Phelps Institute, New York, NY (‘88-‘89); John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (‘89); U. N. High Commission for Refugees (‘89); Global Fund for Women (‘89); WDR-TV, Germany (‘89); Paul Robeson Fund (‘89); Foundation for a Compassionate Society (‘89); Schlesinger Research Library (‘89); Massachusetts Council for the Arts (‘88); Mass. Foundation for the Humanities (‘88); and Massachusetts Arts Lottery (‘88).
For more information, please visit: http://www.salemmekuria.com
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Profile last updated: June 10, 2009