Hiwot Gille is a painter and visual artist born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and currently based in the United States. Her practice spans painting, design, and photography, with a primary focus on oil painting.

Her work centers on portraits and figurative subjects, characterized by subtle distortion and vibrant use of color. Drawing inspiration from nature, patterns, and personal experience, Gille explores themes of identity and memory through self-portraits and paintings of close family members. Her work invites viewers to engage emotionally and form their own interpretations.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My work explores mainly nostalgia through portraits and figures, using color and expression to capture the emotional complexity of memory. Nostalgia carries both warmth and loss a longing for the past alongside the awareness that it cannot be revisited.

Inspired by my childhood in Ethiopia, I examine the tension between remembering and letting go. Through my paintings, I invite viewers to reflect on their own nostalgia and how memory shapes identity.