Nahom Teklehaimanot (b. 1991) is an Eritrean painter born in Addis Ababa and based in Nairobi. In 2013 he won first prize in the professional category of the European Union Art Competition, and in 2026 he took part in the 25th Biennale of Sydney with three commissioned works. Combining collage and airbrush, he turns fragments of archival images and magazines into dreamlike figurative compositions about identity, displacement, exile and belonging.
Nahom Teklehaimanot (b. 1991, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) is an Eritrean painter who lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a diploma in information and communication technology from the SMAP Institute of Training in Asmara, Eritrea (2013), and in the same year won first prize in the professional category of the European Union Art Competition. His practice centres on identity, displacement, exile and the psychological impact of conflict and belonging, drawing on both personal and collective experience of migration. Working in collage and airbrush, he assembles fragments of archival images and magazine material and translates them into dreamlike figurative compositions that combine softness with fractured, jagged forms. His imagery is often inspired by children’s stories, picture books and lullabies. His solo and two-person exhibitions include “Connectivity of the Identity” at The Gallery, Asmara (2019), “Unspoken Wars” at AKKA Project in Venice (2024) and “When Home Won’t Let You Stay” at Addis Fine Art in Addis Ababa (2024). He has also shown with Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi, Sarah Kravitz Gallery in London and at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, and in 2024 took part in a residency in Hastings, UK. In 2026 he participated in the 25th Biennale of Sydney with three commissioned works. The acrylic painting “Muddy Water VIII” (2022), offered by TUMO Gallery, is a large square canvas of 140 × 140 cm.
