Julie Mehretu

Julie Mehretu (1970- ) is an Ethiopian American painter and printmaker who creates large abstract, layered landscapes. Her work explores themes such as colonialism, capitalism, war, global uprising, diaspora, and displacement. Taking inspiration from architecture, music, and, literature her drawings are highly gestural. Recently, she has been interested in the idea that drawing can be an extension of an activist impulse.  Mehretu studied at the University Cheik Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal from 1990-1991. She received her BA from in 1992 and her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1997.