By the Children of the Sudden Flowers Collective

Edited by Eric Gottesman

In powerful photographic vignettes, Sudden Flowers illuminates American artist Eric Gottesman’s twelve-year experience working with children orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Using the technique of “positive-negative film,” which produces both print and negative images, Gottesman taught the children to use cameras in order to create portraits that communicate the complexity of their experience. With his help, the children formed the art collective Sudden Flowers, where today they continue to express themselves through the media of photography and film. The eponymous book is a representation of the work produced by both the children and Gottesman himself, and captures the poignancy of their combined vision. Self-portraits intertwine with youth testimonials to reveal an Ethiopian conscience whose activism and potential was not limited by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

ERIC GOTTESMAN studied history, literature, and political science at Duke University and completed his MA degree in fine art at Bard College. His collaborative photography project on the impact of AIDS in one Ethiopian community has been supported by arts organizations, NGOs, foundations, and UN agencies. His work has been featured in books and exhibited internationally. Gottesman is a 2012 Artist in Residence at Amherst College.

Excerpt from “Yabat Ida Le Lij” from Eric Gottesman on Vimeo.

This is a video created by Eric Gottesman and the Sudden Flowers collective. It is fictionalized, but based on the lives of members of the group. The masks are used as symbols of how Sudden Flowers members feel they have been treated by society.

$40 USD
8 1/2″ x 11″ / 160 pages
Fall 2012
ISBN: 978-1-884167-89-8