The Evangelist portrait at the beginning of the Gospel of John, in the famous Kebran 1 Gospels, a notable example of manuscript arts held on the isle of Kebran in Lake Tana.
Tag: Writing
Arabic Writing Teacher, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2009
A teacher of arabic writing at the mosque in Bahir Dar. Moslems are a significant minority in areas of the North, and comprise a majority in the Eastern areas of Ethiopia.
Liqa Kahunat Ajugu, Gälawdios, Amhara, Ethiopia, July 2009
Lika Kahunat (Archpriest) Ajugu, a scribe in the village of Gälawdios, in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. He works at his scribing every non-holiday, and had just finished a large copy of the 4 Gospels when we arrived, which he was going to send to Bahir Dar in search of a buyer.
Haleka Woldegabriel, Axum, Tigray, Ethiopia, April 2009
Haleka Woldegabriel is a artisan in Axum, primarily producing fairly low-quality woodcrafts for the tourist shop market, but in the past, he produced books and magic scrolls. Like many other scribes, he says that he has had to give it up because the economic situation of the scribe is no longer tenable, and other crafts are significantly more profitable. Haleka Woldegabriel is interesting for being the first scribe I have met so far to use steel pen-nibs in his writing, rather than bamboo pens.
He’s holding an incomplete magic scroll–he sends them to others for painting when the writing is done.