Internationally recognised Eritrean artist and Sunshine West resident Michael Adonai is the latest recipient of the African‐Australian Excellence of the Year Award.
Honouring influential African‐Australians, the award was presented on November 7 and is something the artist and former Eritrean refugee says he never expected to receive. “I have a profound sense of gratitude.”
Adonai, who has lived in Australia almost two years, is considered to be one of the most celebrated contemporary Eritrean artists and painters.
His highly personal, dramatic and symbolic style often depicts the poignant reflection of his experience as a freedom fighter with the hope, shared by many Eritreans, of finding a safer life.
“I want my art to be a voice for the voiceless,” he said. “A voice [for] many victims, [for] those who take the chance for themselves and their children of a better future.” Adonai teaches art students in his studio in Laverton North and at the Footscray Community Arts Centre.
While the foundation of his work is built on the early childhood exposure he had to the unique Eritrean style of art, his own style is the result of both realism and Coptic art and reflects his own “deepest thoughts and human experiences”.
Adonai says he hopes to use his fascination with indigenous Australian art to
“blend the cultures of Africa and Australia together”.
His paintings have been exhibited in countries including the US, Japan, UAE, the UK, Sweden and Italy.
He is planning exhibitions to open in the coming weeks and says “the future appears to be bright” for him.
