Threads of Resilience

Holmes à Court Gallery, Afrika House, Nairobi
29 July – 22 August 2026

Threads of Resilience is a group exhibition exploring the lived experiences of women working in Ethiopia’s export garment industry. Emerging from our three-year study on workplace health, safety and wellbeing, the exhibition brings together visual art, photography and participatory research to centre the voices and everyday realities of women whose labour sustains the global fashion industry.

Featuring works by Ethiopian artist and photographer Maheder Haileselassie, our own postdoctoral researcher and artist Olivia Howland, and eight women garment workers from Addis Ababa, the exhibition challenges the invisibility of women’s labour and invites reflection on the human stories behind global supply chains.

Maheder Haileselassie’s photographic series Baaytewar (Lone Bird) offers an intimate glimpse into the lives and environments of young Ethiopian women navigating work, family responsibilities and uncertain futures. Through portraiture, domestic spaces and acts of needling and threading, the series explores both the vulnerability and resilience of women whose experiences are often overlooked.

The exhibition features photographs created through Photovoice, a participatory research methodology in which eight women garment workers documented aspects of their own lives and experiences beyond the factory floor. These powerful visual narratives position workers not simply as subjects of research, but as authors of knowledge and agents of change.

Curated by Kenyan visual and conceptual artist James Muriuki, Threads of Resilience creates a space where art, research and policy conversations meet, asking how we understand labour, health and dignity in a globalised garment industry.

Opening event and artist/research talk: Wednesday 29 July 2026
Exhibition continues until 22 August 2026.