Ethel Aanyu

Ethel Aanyu is a Ugandan photographer living and working in Kampala, Uganda. In 2020, she presented her work in the Kampala Art Biennale as an apprentice to Andrew Tshabangu’s studio. Her work employs digital layering techniques of positive and negative black and white images and coloured inverted images. Mainly using herself as a model and other people too, she stages scenes that portray visual self-reactions.

Aanyu’s creative process begins with a question that arises or that she intentionally calls to her mind. She describes that what we see in her work is similar to talking to oneself, mentally conversing, in various ways, sometimes in the form of a heated dispute, other times as a gentle conversation. The negative and positive layers in the photographs each represent one of the conversing parties. She dissects complex emotions in visual form, creating piercing and proud images that give a human face to intricate topics.