When you think of a museum, what comes to mind? A sterile white room punctuated by sculptures on pedestals, perhaps. Or maybe a grandiose building filled with oil paintings in gold frames and trinkets from bygone eras. Zoma Museum in the Mekanisa district of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is a far cry from any such institution. In fact, it's so different that it's rather hard to describe.

Launched in 2016 by Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul, Addis Fine Art (AFA) became “the first white-cube gallery space for modern and contemporary art in Ethiopia.” Later that year, a two-storey AFA gallery space was opened in London to further boost exposure for Ethiopian artists on an international level.

In 1990 Saba Alene pioneered Ethiopia's art scene with the launch of the St. George Interior Decoration and Art Gallery in Addis Ababa. At the time the Ethiopian art market was almost non-existent. There were only 2-3 full time working artists, with most all artists working in a primary occupation as an art school teacher or for a government enterprise. Newspaper columns dedicated to art were nonexistent.

Visitors to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are often pointed in the direction of coffee ceremonies, cultural shows featuring traditional music and dance, a collection of churches, and 'Lucy,' a three-million-year-old hominid skeleton discovered in 1974,” writes impact strategist Amirah Jiwa on the rising creative class in Addis Ababa for Here Magazine issue 12. “But for those looking to traverse beyond the tourist circuit, Addis offers a rich, modern, and individually Ethiopian creative scene accessible to anyone willing to look for it