When ‘Living with Art’, comprising modern and contemporary African American art from the private collection of Ethiopian-born Alitash Kebede, opens in October, from a cultural and artistic perspective it will be one of the most significant exhibitions the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG) has staged.

Hosting the 74-work travelling exhibition is in keeping with part of the BNG’s mandate to bring the world’s art to Bermuda, and will provide residents and visitors alike with a unique opportunity to view a diverse collection of works by many of the most significant African American artists of the modern and contemporary periods.

Among them will be Norman Lewis, born in New York of Bermudian parents, and a leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance period in the 1920s and 1930s; Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Herbert Gentry, Bull Hutson, and Betye, Alison and Lezley Saar.

The genesis of Miss Kebede’s collection is interesting. While she knew instinctively that the then-largely unrecognised work of African American artists was important, as a student her purchasing powers were limited to say the least.

Happily, she discovered, with the purchase of her first painting, that many artists were willing to accept her “nickels and dimes” on the instalment plan, thus allowing her to piece together what is regarded today as one of the finest private collections in the US.

While Miss Kebede’s personal link to Bermuda is through her long-standing friendship with the Premier, Dr. Ewart Brown, the link between her travelling art collection and the Island is new, and came via Landau Travelling Exhibitions, the firm which handles the bookings. When Mr. Landau learned, via the internet, of BNG’s wish to host an African American art collection, he immediately telephoned Miss Kebede with the news.

“I was in a taxi in New York with my friend Ming Smith when the phone rang and it was Jeff Landau. He said his company had heard from the BNG, which was interested in having my exhibition. I was so excited,” she relates.

“Three days before that, I had discovered that my old friend Ewart Brown was Premier of Bermuda. I told Jeff I thought he must have something to do with it, even though I didn’t think Dr. Brown knew I had an art collection, and even if he did, I thought he would have more important things to do.

When I hung up, Ming said, ‘Who is your friend in Bermuda?’ When I said, ‘Ewart Brown’, she said ‘Oh, I know him. We went to Howard together’. Meanwhile, when Jeff told the BNG of my friendship with the Premier, they couldn’t believe it and called Dr. Brown to make sure he knew me.

“The whole experience of Bermuda is serendipitous. Things like that always happen in my life. I am the ‘Queen of Serendipity’.”

Miss Kebede’s passion for art began in childhood in her native Ethiopia, when she eagerly awaited the arrival of such magazines as Life, Time, Newsweek and Reader’s Digest in the family home. Life magazine, in particular, fascinated her with its incredible photographic images.

Attending an exhibition in Addis Ababa by the celebrated Ethiopian artist, Skunder Baghossian, at age 13 proved momentous.

“My life was changed,” she says. “He was the first hipster I had ever met — good looking, and his work was beautiful. He is actually considered the father of modern African art because he studied in Paris and London. He was the first African artist which the mainstream recognised, and also the first African to be in the Museum of Modern Art collection.”

At age 15, following her “very progressive” father’s death, the teenager began taking weekly art lessons, but it was not until many years later, after she and her sisters moved to the United States, where their uncle was a UN ambassador, to complete their education that her passion for art was truly awakened.

After graduating from high school, Miss Kebede enrolled in Lindfield College in Oregon, where she studied history with a concentration in 20th century China, and minored in art. She often travelled to Los Angeles, where she credits the LA County Museum of Art with opening her eyes to the works of African American artists who, “for obvious reasons did not get proper recognition”.

“The museum did a landmark exhibition, curated by artist and art historian David Driskall, called ‘Two Centuries of Black American Art,” she recalls.

“Before that I never really knew there were a lot of black artists of that calibre in the world. Unfortunately, many still don’t know, so that has been my mission ever since.”

Today, Miss Kebede notes that the work of artists like Jacob Lawrence are selling at auction for more than $2 million — something with which she takes issue.

“The financial aspect opens people’s eyes to the art, whereas the art itself should do that. People should be paying attention to Later, while doing publicity work at Atlantic Records, Miss Kebede met and socialised with many artists. She found them “fascinating”, and they in turn urged her to become an art dealer, although she knew nothing about the profession.

Intelligent, educated, dynamic and charming, she soon learned however, and today is justifiably proud of her LA gallery, which she insists is not a great money spinner but rather the culmination of a dream.

“It is all about passion. If it was about money I would not have lasted. The money is not always there, but the passion is. When I do an exhibition I don’t think dollars and cents.

“I feel like I have a mini-museum. I do what needs to be done, and the universe keeps on letting me go from month to month, year to year. Having my own gallery, and being involved in the arts was a dream. I feel I can dream whatever I want because I know I will make it happen.”

In terms of her travelling exhibition, Miss Kebede defines this as “a testament to what is universal, like the arts”.

“From the works in the exhibition you have no idea who the artists are, whether they are black, white, from Timbuktu or Iraq. A real artist is a universal vision. This is the twenty-first century, the time of the global village.”

As a world traveller who has been immersed in the art world for many years, Miss Kebede has created from artists, art professors, documentary makers and more a wide network of friends, many of whom contribute to her serendipitous experiences.

For example, Professor Acklyn Lynch, past chair of African American Studies at the University of Maryland, knew the renowned Ethiopian artist Skunder Baghossian at Howard University, so when the gallery owner called to tell him about the Bermuda exhibition, the professor said she must contact his former student, Dr. Brown.

“The world is a small place. When I told him that Ewart was now the Premier of Bermuda, Professor Lynch said politics was always in his blood, but he became a doctor because he needed to make money.”

In fact, Dr. Brown’s California clinic not only served the Ethiopian community, including Miss Kebede, but also its walls were decorated with original art which she supplied.

On her first visit to the Island, Miss Kebede says the moment her feet touched the soil it was a case of love at first sight — so much so, in fact, that she is enquiring about real estate here to possibly fulfil another of her dreams: the creation of a non-profit artists’ colony to which artists from all over the world, be they painters or writers, would come for mutual inspiration and dialogue — a project she envisages as a collaborative effort with local businesses and museums.

Equally, she is considering Kuriftu, Ethiopia as the site, because it too is a beautiful place. Yet she sees parallels.

“In Ethiopia, people come for the history, the plays, the beauty and the art. It is all about the visual. People don’t come to see politicians. They come to see the beauty of the culture that the people live. All of this is nothing without the people. From what I have seen Bermuda is beautiful, and very inspiring, and I think some of the most beautiful people I have met in my life are here.”

While Los Angeles is home for now, Miss Kebede intends to have “a presence” in her homeland when she is older.

“Los Angeles is Babylon. It is disgustingly shallow,” she says. “I live there because I am raising my nephew, but there is no question I am Ethiopian. I have family there, and I am involved with the museum there — but I couldn’t live there all year.

“I am a citizen of the world now. To me, Ethiopia belongs to the world. Everybody is a root of the country because it is the birthplace of humankind. We all come from some place, and I don’t care what colour you are, we are all God’s children. He does not make a difference.”

After art, Miss Kebede, who serves on the board of the Watts Willowbrook Boys and Girls Club, says her second great passion is children “because they are the future”.

“If you invest in them you change the world. For children without a positive example I want to be that example. They don’t have to have a mummy and a daddy, but someone who cares. It takes a second to have a child, but caring for children is another story. That is why God gives them instinct — to protect themselves. That is what I love about Ethiopia: a child can be poor but loved. It is unheard of for parents to abandon their children.”

On race and education, Miss Kebede says, “You cannot change anything if you come from hate. You have to come from love. If people know what you say is based on love they will listen.

“When children know a teacher cares they pay attention. Children are intuitive and they know when a teacher is standing there doing their own thing because it is just a job and they are getting paid. They know who is real and who isn’t.

“I wish adults were like that. Children don’t care what your title is. They go beyond that and the dress and straight to who you are. Adults, on the other hand, go by the title and how you are dressed, but you can’t dress what is inside.”

‘Living with Art’ officially opens at the Bermuda National Gallery on October 8 with Miss Kebede and many of her friends from abroad in attendance. It will continue through January 4, 2008. A related series of lectures, entertainment and education programmes is also planned.