Berhanu Ashagrie Deribew is a multidisciplinary artist and an assistant professor at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University, where he also held the position of Director for nearly four years from 2012 to 2016. His academic passion lies in engaged pedagogy and collaborative knowledge production, a commitment that has led to the organization, facilitation, and hosting of numerous local, continental, and international initiatives spanning education, art, and research. His artistic and research practices primarily focus on themes of dispossession, particularly concerning modernization, change, and development and their precarious effects on the socio-political and natural environment. He is deeply interested in grounding his research activities in local and indigenous knowledge and practices embedded within communities and the land. Currently, Berhanu is deeply engrossed in an ongoing artistic research endeavor delving into the concept and practices of collective mourning, viewing it as a multifaceted aesthetic, pedagogical, and political language. Berhanu is a Ph.D. In-practice Candidate at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Currently, he is working between Vienna and Addis Ababa.