Transparent City

At every corner around the city it is unavoidable not to see the green and yellow tin fences that have become the standard for new construction sites. As part of the governments attempt to create a standard way to bring order and also to cover unsightly construction, the green and yellow fences have become synonymous with the city as much as the wooden scaffoldings which have become vertical sculptures draped on modern buildings. With this in mind, Mulugeta Ayene’s collection of images were inspired by these fences and through his photographs the questions that he raises deals with the impact of urbanization on society. As he states:

 “The color of the Ethiopian flag is significant - the red stripe stands for power, faith and blood; the yellow symbolizes the church, peace, natural wealth and love; and the green represents the land and hope. Today you can see every construction area covered by green and yellow galvanized steel. This for me is a reflection that the streets are changing, the neighborhoods are changing, the country is changing and the culture is changing. Yet, with the physical change of the city, one thing still remains and that is the question that I am putting forward, what about the people? With all of this effort, no real change can take place until the people have also changed and therefore, I have juxtaposed these images with the colors that we are familiar with in order to express my concerns about the society as the city moves towards urbanization.”