The curator Meskerem Assegued, founder oft he Zoma Contemporary Art Center (ZCAC) in Addis Ababa, conceived the exhibition With Different Eyes, dedicated to Johannes Haile (1927–2016). Johannes Haile was one oft he first Ethiopians to study photography in the United States and was the official photographer of the United Nations. In 1962, the German Embassy in Ethiopia commissioned him to travel to Germany and capture images of postwar industrial Germany.
The exhibition With Different Eyes shows Johannes Haile’s perspective on this historical moment, sharing stories of the people working in factories, farms, educational institutions, laboratories, as well as schoolchildren, students and professionals, couples and families, and the different urban and rural realities of Germany in 1962. He invited people from various professions and followed them from their workplaces to their homes, documenting deep insights into their everyday lives. The photographs demonstrate how Johannes Haile, with his unique ability to see beyond cultural differences, create a sense of togetherness sharing the individual stories of the people he encountered.
