REINATA SADIMBA AND TIEMAR TEGENE

Vernissage 29 October 2026, from 6pm to 8pm
Exhibition on view until 19 December 2026

“Telluric Silhouettes” brings together two artists whose practices are rooted in a physical and sensory relationship with matter. The title evokes both the power of the Earth and the silhouettes that emerge from it: bodies, beings, and forms traversed by the forces of the world around them. For both Reinata Sadimba and Tiemar Tegene, the material is the site where the earthly and the human meet. Earth, ink, imprints, reliefs, and layers give the figures an almost organic presence, as if they were emerging from the material itself. “Telluric Silhouettes” invites us to view these silhouettes as presences rooted in a physical, cultural, and living world.

Reinata Sadimba (2022)
Untitled
34 x 19 x 16,5 cm, ceramic.

Forging presences

Artists united by their intimate connection to matter, by the expression of their world through the color black, and by their love of texture. As sculptors of silhouettes, Reinata Sadimba and Tiemar Tegene engrave, carve, and shape their figures until they come to life—a life breathed into them by texture rather than by background. A life written from a feminine perspective. They explore phases of existence or the emotions their subjects experience: love, grief, or even discord. The cosmos and its beings lie at the heart of their creation. Centered on the human, Sadimba’s universe features a wide range of poses; while Tegene populates her canvases with felines at times, and at other times with vegetation—all elements found on Earth. Both artists also share a preference for grays and blacks. These are the only colors Sadimba allows herself to use on her ceramics beyond the natural terracotta, and she achieves this through the use of minerals: lime and graphite.

While Tegene favors soliloquies, community plays an important role in Sadimba’s work. Grief is an emotion experienced in solitude, whereas a love scene requires two people. Sadimba shows us that, even in a group, it is possible to give in to outpourings of emotion.

Tiemar Tegene (2025)
Mourning your love IV
80 x 90 cm, monoprint on canvas.

Living on Earth

Earth, this planet that gives us so much, from which artists contemplate, draw, and find inspiration. A force—or even an energy—that conveys truth. Tiemar Tegene seeks to capture this earthly reality in her works. She observes her models’ poses, their movements, and those of the world around them, then layers impressions to convey these shifts, imbued with an energy all their own. For Sadimba, the earthly is inscribed in the very material itself. The earth passes through her hands, allowing itself to be shaped, resisting, cracking, and retaining the traces of her touch. Lime, graphite, clay—so many minerals with which she works. For both Sadimba and Tegene, the Earth is an active force. Through their practices, both seem to be searching for what connects beings to the matter from which they are born.

Reinata Sadimba (2025)
Untitled
45 x 23 x 23 cm, ceramic.

Traces and memory

Sadimba’s Makonde origins run through her work. We see the dinembo—the distinctive tattoos of her social group—on some of the faces she has sculpted. Her work thus appears deeply rooted in a cultural and personal experience, where Makonde memory intertwines with her sculptural language.

Tegene applies ink to her first medium with ingenuity and dexterity. She spreads it with varying amounts of color, or conversely removes some to create texture; she stamps it with varying degrees of pressure—all of these are sensitive, physical gestures that resemble a process of exploration. Tegene explores the potential of shades of gray, much like a a lifelong researcher of printing techniques.

Tiemar Tegene (2025)
ኦቻቻ ጋሞኖ ጋሞኖ ኦቻቻ
149 x 169 cm, monoprint on canvas.