Love Letter to the Unseen
Reading time: 2 minutes
(Dec.6 -
Jan. 11)
Yeabkal
stood out to us because he was a photographer who was simply paying attention
to the times. When Studio 11 first encountered his work on Instagram, his
account had just over 400 followers. What stood out wasn’t composition in the
traditional sense, but sensitivity. He photographed people moving through Addis
Ababa at a time when the city itself felt unsettled.
Yeabkal
Yetneberk
Yeabkal is not originally from Addis Ababa. He arrived as an observer, not someone deeply rooted in the neighborhoods undergoing rapid change. That distance allowed him to document the city without nostalgia or attachment, but with care. He noticed how people paused at construction sites, how routines shifted, how uncertainty settled into everyday life.
Addis Ababa has been experiencing intense infrastructural transformation. Roads expand. Buildings disappear. Communities are uprooted. Love Letter to the Unseen captures how these changes affect people quietly, in moments that rarely make headlines.
The exhibition became the final show of 2025. Many spoke about feeling seen in a way they hadn’t expected. This was not a story about progress or loss alone, but about adaptation.
For Yeabkal, the exhibition marked a turning point. His work moved from a small phone screen into a physical space where it could be encountered slowly and publicly. For audiences, it offered a rare pause to reflect on what change feels like when you’re living inside it.
The Legacy of a Man
