1981
Ethiopia’s most beloved modernist artist, Gebre Kristos Desta, died, a refugee, in Oklahoma City in 1981. Two years earlier, he had escaped the violence of the Derg, the military regime that had assumed power in Ethiopia after the revolution in 1974. He travelled first to Nairobi, Kenya, and then on to East Germany. He had hoped to gain refuge in the latter, but was unsuccessful.
In 1980, he was offered passage in the US, sponsored by Rev. Elmer Robnett of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lawton, OK. His time in Oklahoma was relatively short, and ended with his untimely passing in spring 1981. Though a time of exile and of suffering, Gebre Kristos’ stay in Lawton was also a period of intense activitiy, including a large exhibition at the Gallery of the Wichitas, opened by the mayor of Lawton, and the design and supervision of a mural at a Lawton high school.
2026
To mark 45 years since Gebre Kristos’ passing a major international gathering is taking place in Norman, OK. This will celebrate not only Gebre Kristos’ life and legacy, but the broader, historic connections between Ethiopia and the state of Oklahoma.
The Remembrance + Renewal event developed out of a collaboration between Dr. Kate Cowcher, Prof. Emily Burns and Prof. Bekele Mekonnen, established in 2024.
In spring 2024, Prof. Burns invited Dr. Cowcher to the Russell Center to share research on Gebre Kristos’ final year in Oklahoma. The research was undertaken for the final chapter of her monograph, Beyond the Feudal Fog: Art and Revolution in Ethiopia (under contract, McGill-Queens University Press). During her visit, they travelled to Lawton, OK and, following a meeting with Jason Poudrier, Jim Whiteley and Sharon Cheatwood at the Museum of the Great Plains, a previously unknown artwork by Gebre Kristos was found in the Lawton City Council offices.
Since 2024, Prof Bekele Mekonnen has been working on an annual memorial event for Gebre Kristos in Addis Ababa. Through the University of Oklahoma he has extended these efforts to Norman, OK.
In autumn 2024, Prof. Bekele visited University of Oklahoma and worked with Prof. Jason Cytacki and his students on a mural to honor Gebre Kristos for downtown Norman, OK. This mural, supported by the Norman Arts Council, was completed in spring 2025. It will be focal point for the concluding celebrations during Remembrance + Renewal.
Remembrance + Renewal will feature talks, roundtables, poetry readings, excursions, and a tour of student-curated exhibitions (by students of Prof. Burns), inspired by these histories:
Making and Collecting: Ethiopian Material Culture in Oklahoma Collections, Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, Mar 11-May 15, 2026
The Long Pour: Coffee and Decades of Ethiopian-Oklahoma Connection, SoVA, Spotlight Gallery, Mar 23–April 3, 2026
Beyond the Sky: Ethiopian Artists in Oklahoma, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Focus Gallery, Mar 27-Aug 15, 2026
Convening Committee: Prof. Emily Burns, Dr. Kate Cowcher and Prof. Bekele Mekonnen.
