Roots of Resilience: Tesfaye Urgessa

Please note that this exhibition has now closed. It took place from 20 September 2025 to 15 February 2026.

Shaped by themes of geographical displacement and migration, internationally acclaimed Ethiopian artist Tesfaye Urgessa creates powerfully visceral paintings that interrogate the politics of war, race and identity.

Following a residency with the Sainsbury Centre, Urgessa unveiled a series of new paintings reflecting on the refugee crisis, which were created in dialogue with the museum’s collection. The works investigate layered narratives of war, migration, and survival, reflecting on resilience.

Roots of Resilience refigures the human body not as broken, but as bearing dignity, defiance, and the enduring capacity to heal. The human figure reflects not only personal and collective trauma, but also our potential for empathy, endurance, and transformation.

Works from the Sainsbury Centre’s global collection, such as Pablo Picasso’s Woman combing her Hair (1906), and Henry Moore’s Mother and Child (1932), among others, served as key sources of inspiration and resonate with Urgessa’s own practice.

Curated by John Kenneth Paranada, Curator of Art and Climate Change at the Sainsbury Centre.

Supported by Cheng-Lan Foundation and Saatchi Yates.

Tesfaye Urgessa was joined by Eat Ethio to host an Ethiopian coffee ceremony at the Sainsbury Centre – a living ritual in which coffee, conversation, and welcome were shared – as part of the opening week of Can We Stop Killing Each Other?

This exhibition was part of our current season Can We Stop Killing Each Other?

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