Dallol

Semi-constrained Lichtenberg figures on scavenged and upcycled wood, textile pigment dyed, mica-inlaid resin, fractal-edged and finished in high gloss automotive varnish. This large engraved wood work transforms natural grain into a map-like abstract landscape of branching lines, mineral pools, and earthy color fields. Burnished reds, olive greens, and ochre passages create a geological rhythm, while the carved surface reveals the material’s tactile depth and quiet drama. In the Danakil Depression in East Ethiopia, the second lowest, hottest on average and hottest settled place on earth, lies the Dallol volcano. In it’s furnace, it cooks underground chemicals into salty acid pools which eventually evaporate, leaving fractalised residues to create the one place on earth in which not even the extremiest of extremophiles can survive. In spite of these harshest of conditions, merciless beauty thrives, eons before it was appreciated by the local Afar tribesmen with their sharp, filed and pointed, shark-like teeth - beautiful and terrifying - like Dallol itself. My visit there in 2017 echoes within me yet. Not just Dallol itself, but the whole unique country, so full of contrast and contradictions. It brims with natural wonders, offers museum-like preservation of the ancient kingdom’s architecture, represents a plethora of cultures and codes, all compressed into a typically African juxtaposition of hard and soft. It guards it’s secrets like a rich miser, and is as user-friendly as a punch in the face. For the Farangie (foreigner), it is all familiar and all foreign, just like Dallol, where my heart is at home. As I experiment with and develop any new medium, I don't always have the knowledge in the moment to fabricate the ideas arising within me into reality. Without getting into technical details, every project since 2017 was subliminally influenced by the obsession of “how will this hone my skills in order to make “Dallol” eventually?” The learning curve took almost a decade, and I deem it worth every second. There is no end to the journey, but this was an ending. Of sorts. Presented at “Ethiopian Roots” exhibition at We-Art gallery in October - December, 2025, Carmiel.