Future History: An Untold Legacy of Ethiopian Resistance, with Wendimagegn Belete and Saiba Bayo | Activity
As part of the Action>Cinema activities in Dart Festival 2025, MACBA hosts a conversation between artist Wendimagegn Belete and political scientist Saiba Bayo in relation to the screening of the film Future History: An Untold Legacy of Ethiopian Resistance. In the foyer of the Meier Auditorium, the installation Unveil will welcome the audience.
Wendimagegn Belete’s work explores archives to deal with the links between identity, history and cultural legacy. In Future History, he recovers the direct testimony of survivors of the Ethiopian resistance to the fascist Italian invasion of 1935–1941, an episode of global importance that marked the history of anti-fascism, but which has been silenced by Eurocentric narratives. Unlike other African countries, Ethiopia was never colonised: the Ethiopians, who fought back against the invasion despite having fewer resources, drove out the Italian army, making an indelible mark on the history of anti-colonial resistance movements.
In his work, Belete puts a face to the protagonists of this history. Each interview represents a valuable fragment of a collective memory at risk of being lost, especially because of the advanced age of the veterans. The film, in Amharic without subtitles, offers symbolic resistance to the colonial notion that non-western languages need translating to be understood. In this way, it invites the audience to approach memory through a sensory rather than a mediated experience.
Alongside this, the installation Unveil presents a collective portrait of thousands of Ethiopian patriots through archive material and unreleased 16 mm footage. The piece evokes a legacy of resistance and solidarity that formed the basis of many African and diaspora liberation movements.
The conversation with Know Bayoa researcher and lecturer specializing in post-colonial theory and solidarity projects, will open up a space for dialogue between memory and history, reflecting on the continuing validity of these struggles today, as well as the role of film and art in Panafricanism.
This activity is part of the film season Visions of Panafricawhich expands on the ideas in the exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica. Activity in collaboration with Action>Cinema and Dart Festival.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
exhibition
From 6 November 2025 to 6 April 2026
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica
