As part of my ongoing work with the Brick Box I was asked to construct a traditional Eritrean house or ‘Hidmo’ for a woman called Betiel Mahari or ‘Betty’. Eritrea is a small country on the East coast of Africa above Ethiopia and below Sudan. Betty grew up in Eritrea but lives in Brixton. I created the hut as a place for Betty to hold her Eritrean coffee ceremony and to serve traditional food during the SW9 exhibition which took place on the weekend of the 23rd June 2012.
Me and Betty got on really well and I was enthused when I found she wanted me to create something ambitious in scale and construction. The project from inception to completion took 5 days of hard work, and could not have been done without the help of my friends who came in for the last day. All materials where sourced on site at Coldharbour lane.