Dagim Abebe (b. 1993, Ethiopia) is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural practitioner whose work interrogates memory, identity, and collective narratives within the evolving landscape of Ethiopian contemporary art. Through painting, drawing, curation, and critical writing, he explores the intersections of tradition and modernity, employing materiality and metaphor to bridge personal and sociopolitical histories.
Trained at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design (Addis Ababa University), Dagim’s research-driven practice merges conceptual rigor with formal experimentation. His MFA thesis, The Gambits (2023), exemplifies this approach, deconstructing contemporary Ethiopian realities through layered visual strategies that juxtapose daily life with fragmented urban materiality. The body of work serves as a meditation on cultural metamorphosis, framed through the tactical lens of chess and game theory.
As a curator, Dagim champions printmaking and interdisciplinary practices as sites of archival resistance. His debut project, Birhanu Manaye: Woven Memories (2025, The Space Ethiopia Gallery), reimagined printmaking as a dynamic medium for preserving heritage, fostering dialogue between erasure and reclamation. His scholarly contributions, including "Curating Against the Odds: The Struggle to Sustain Ethiopia’s Art Ecosystem" (Curatorial Ethics Network, 2025) and "Bisrat Shibabaw" (Africanah.org, 2024), reflect his commitment to art as a tool for historiographic repair, centering marginalized voices in postcolonial discourse.