Visiting Artist Colloquium: Tehan Ketema

Tehan Ketema is an interdisciplinary artist primarily working in the mediums of photography, video, and poetry. Her work delves into new media and familial archives to investigate their impact on the understanding of history, territory, and identity. Her research emanates from her own lived experience as a first-generation, Eritrean-American woman as well as the stories of her people, both culturally and ancestrally. Amplifying the experiences of the African diaspora and challenging the hegemonic Western gaze, Ketema contributes to the ongoing discourse of knowledge-building, reclamation, and validation. Her process of curating, preserving, and presenting these narratives adds depth to the tapestry of the shared history across geographic spaces such as Eritrea and the United States. Her research interests also traverse explorations of literary and oral traditions and media such as hip-hop, spoken word, and poetry as a regenerative force influencing her understanding and reimagining of archival storytelling and Black futures.

Ketema recently received her M.F.A. in Photo, Video, and Imaging from the University of Arizona in Tucson. She previously received her B.S. in Life Sciences and Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a First Wave Scholar with certificates in Digital Studies and Studio Art Photography. Ketema has since exhibited nationally and internationally in exhibitions such as the 2021 Kampala Arts Biennial, the 2022 UCLA New Wight Biennial, and the 2023 Arizona Biennial. She is currently the inaugural First Wave Arts and Education Post Doctoral Fellow in the UW-Madison Art Department in partnership with the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives with support from the Division of the Arts. tehanketema.com