ALIENS IN ERITREA, The first storyboard illustrations for The Marketplace, photo credit: Juan Astasio, Courtesy of the artist
Founded in 2014, San Francisco, CA, USA
Sephora Woldu
Born San Jose, USA (1989), lives and works in San Francisco and Joshua Tree, USA
The Marketplace 2023
traditional Eritrean bowls, pigment powders, teff flour
Courtesy of the artist
The production of this work was supported by Cinereach.
Commissioned by Lagos Biennial 2024
Artist’s statement
The themes explored by ALIENS IN ERITREA include the internal feeling of being alien to a place and the external conditions of displacement that are designed to make certain people feel alien. This installation is a key part of the set design for the forthcoming feature length film, ‘Aliens in Eritrea’, written and directed by Sephora Woldu.
The Marketplace in ‘Aliens in Eritrea’ is a porous junction where alien life beyond this realm can interact with the living on Earth. It consists of long wooden tables with baskets of brightly coloured powders, each representing different elements of the human condition.
The Marketplace is inspired by the Medeber Market in Asmara, Eritrea and countless international open air markets across the world that create vital intersections of people, activity, and purpose.
ALIENS IN ERITREA’s work is included in REFUGE teams.
