ETHIOPIA ON THE ROAD
by Ignazio Mascia

PHOTO EXHIBITION AND DOCUFILM
from 30th April 2026 
"GARDEN GALLERY MONTANARI" ul. Ivan Denkoglu 36 - Sofia

​EGA Association organise the opening
of the "Garden Gallery Montanari"
the first pilot venue of the
European Garden of Arts – EGA.
On this occasion, a film will be screened
documenting director Ignazio Mascia’s
experience in Ethiopia: a journey of miles,
gazes, and silences across the Ethiopian
highlands, portraying a complex reality
where poverty coexists with profound
spirituality — a suspended world in which
centuries do not follow one another,
but simply coexist.
​

Ethiopia is not merely a journey; it is a homecoming. It is an encounter with a land that cradles, beneath its dusty roads and verdant peaks, the primordial heartbeat of humanity. This exhibition is born from an "on the road" experience, a path woven of miles, gazes, and silences, traversing the Ethiopian highlands to reveal a complex reality where poverty coexists with a profound, untainted spirituality. It is a world suspended, where centuries do not simply follow one another but exist in timeless harmony.

The odyssey begins in the beating heart of Addis Ababa, a metropolis in perpetual flux, before venturing north to where water is revered as sacred. In the frames captured at Lake Tana and Bahir Dar, the water’s surface reflects an ancient devotion, preserved within isolated monasteries that seem to drift between heaven and earth. The thunderous roar of the Blue Nile springs serves as a reminder of nature’s indomitable force, a power that carves the landscape and defines the lives of those who dwell within it.

Further along the road, history is etched in stone at Gondar. The majestic ruins of the Fasil Ghebbi castle, the "Camelot of Africa," stand as silent witnesses to an imperial past. They evoke legends of kings and knights, creating a poignant contrast with the humble rhythm of daily life unfolding at the foot of their walls.

Yet, the exhibition finds its truest soul in the faces of the people. The images gathered along the way linger on the beauty of the essential: the radiant smiles of children, who illuminate hardship with a pure, disarming joy; the weathered features of the elders' "ancestral faces" carved by sun and time, carrying the etched history of an entire nation. Here, dignity is not an abstract concept but a living gesture: the graceful fold of a white Shamma, the proud gait of a traveller bound for market, the hushed sanctity of a moment in prayer.

The journey reaches its visual and physical zenith in Debarq, the gateway to the Simien Mountains. Here, amidst peaks grazing four thousand meters and vertiginous abysses, nature reveals its most dramatic and solemn form. The photographs and video presented here strive to evoke the breadth of these infinite reaches, the wind swaying the grass and the singular sensation of standing upon the "Roof of Africa."

The exhibition film is more than a visual diary; it is a moving stream of consciousness. Its rhythm mirrors the pulse of the journey: the shudder of the vehicle on dirt tracks, the hum of the marketplaces, the liturgical chants of priests, and the stark silence of the summits. It is an invitation to sit beside the traveller, to feel the warmth of the earth and the crisp air of the highlands.

This exhibition does not seek to explain Ethiopia, but simply to unveil it. It is a tribute to a country that, despite its wounds and contradictions, continues to greet the world with the strength of its millennial identity. It is an invitation to look beyond the surface, to discover that within the raw simplicity of a life lived "on the road" lies, perhaps, the most authentic form of wealth.