Between Nostalgia & Dreams
Passport to Museums
Between Nostalgia & Dreams
Explore an evocative new photography show featuring portraits by Ethiopian-American photographer Yusuf Ahmed that explores the delicate interplay between memory and erasure, heritage and identity.
FREE
The Africa Center
February 05, 2025 to April 27, 2025
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Exhibition Details

In this poignant exhibition, Ethiopian-American photographer Yusuf Ahmed delves into the intricate dance between memory and erasure, asking: What endures, and what fades?

Inviting friends and acquaintances with immigrant identities to respond to a deceptively simple prompt—What is the object you’ve held onto the longest?—Ahmed uncovers objects imbued with meaning: scissors, a childhood diary, a delicate vase, a Russian doll. These seemingly ordinary items become powerful vessels, safeguarding stories of ancestors, distant homelands, and fractured yet enduring identities.

About the Artist

Yusuf Ahmed is an Ethiopian-American documentary filmmaker, photographer, and communications strategist based in New York City. Yusuf’s work in documentary portraiture and film examines contemporary conditions of globalization and how it impacts the construction of memory, identity, and notions of belonging.

Location

The Africa Center at Aliko Dangote Hall
1280 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029

Image: Yusuf Ahmed, Viktor and the Russian Princess Doll, 2023, courtesy of the artist