This first London exhibition of Adamu, Kidane and Qanna Sambata introduces forty allegorical works on canvas of three contemporary artists from Ethiopia, the only African country which was not colonised by Europe.

Like other Ethiopian painters before them, these artists still live in the manner of minstrels and troubadours, earning their living by painting and photographing for local or foreign residents. Often self-taught, they nevertheless follow the footsteps of old masters. They may seem oblivious of the cultural conflicts of modernism, yet their paintings undoubtedly evoke defiance, warmth and delight.