"Fikru," as the artist prefers to be called, creates contemporary works on canvas, paper and poster board that draw their power from Fikru's adaptation of classical African symbolism. These symbols create a sense of familiarity in his paintings that resonates (and seeks to form a bond) with the viewer. Howard University professor of African Studies Rosangela Vieira-King writes: "As an artist, Fikru believes that no other experience surpasses that of our own cultural background. His work is a mosaic of the lives and plight of Africans in general and [of] Ethiopians in particular." His message, Prof. Vieira-King explains, is "that to exist in a world…that is often devoid of warmth and presence… humankind must unite and reach for the ‘self' that is present in the ‘other.'" To a significant degree, Fikru's "self" is defined by the culture he shares with all other children of Africa. Fikru's work both points to and provides a salve for the feelings of isolation and estrangement that affect the African Diaspora - whether modern African, Afro-American or Afro-Other. Fikru links the cultural or biological African both spiritually and physically with his or her past (and, in so doing, links all Africans with each other). He creates a sense of home - a place of grounding and of common identity that strengthens the individual self through the shared experience of joy, sorrow, isolation, tragedy and triumph.

Fikru trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa, from which he graduated in 1995. He has exhibited extensively in Ethiopia and France. Fikru spent the summer and fall of 2003 in Washington, DC and returned to Addis Ababa in December to prepare for his 2004 exhibitions, including a June solo exhibition at the Galerie Alterance in Hardelot, France and his November exhibition at the Nevin Kelly Gallery. He has been the subject of numerous documentaries in his native Ethiopia. Documentaries are also under way in France and the U.S.