Petros Meaza studied art at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design at the Addis Ababa University. He has learned the foundation and has been experimenting with various disciplines such as Painting, Drawing, Woodcut Prints, Silk Screen, Graphic Design, Mural and Sculpture. He has been fascinated with all these disciplines available to him, which allowed him to expand his knowledge of understanding materials.

Petros’ art inspiration comes from the cultural diversity that exists in Africa. After he graduated from the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, he had an urge to travel abroad and get experience the vast African culture that he had grown to have a deep admiration for. He stayed for years at the East African countries mainly in Kenya researching and experimenting. The opportunity of living abroad opened his eyes to learn and understand the complexity of art at the world stage. He has also visited France, Austria and South Africa to grasp and study the works of figurative masters such as Alexandre Cabanel, Gustav Klimt and William Kentridge. More of, the visual vocabulary Petros developed throughout the years has a direct influence of African culture and social history. His philosophical and mythological stand is reflected through the vivid, energetic and intense art works. For Petros, a natural reality is always a starting point and then evolves through the process. Furthermore, he fascinated to experiment with natural reality while addressing conceptual concerns.

His recent body of work includes both figurative and still life imagery. Light is the main source of inspiration for his painting, drawing and printmaking. Through the still life genre, Petros loves to explore how light transform simple objects into works of art. Moreover, he wants the viewer to be drawn into the work; thus, he put emphasise on the complexity of the compositions, the use of natural light and how it affects change in form and texture. On the other hand, figure drawing, cityscape painting and printmaking have to do with self-expression through portrait of people that he knows and landscape of cities where he has lived. Hence, the life size figure drawings are sufficient vehicle for the expression of all emotions. The technique he used has evolved from the tightly wrought pencil and charcoal drawings that allows for figuration to emerge. More importantly, he uses figure drawing as a process of constructing meaning. He has been using both drawing and painting mediums over the years.  And recently, he becomes more attached to drawing and printmaking as he realized the power of both mediums. Petros always works simultaneously in both pencil and charcoal mediums to represent the human figure most truthfully.

Petros was born and grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has taught drawing and painting courses at the Dominica Institute of Art. He has also worked as a Fine Art instructor for the Ministry of Education Commonwealth of Dominica for 10 years. During his service, he participated in two major curriculum developments such as for secondary schools under Nova Scotia’s Education Export Alliance Consultants and for Commonwealth of Dominica Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development National Curriculum for Visual and Performing Art. More of, Petros has managed exceptional artistic achievements including participating solo and group exhibitions around the world such as in the USA, Canada, France, Greece, Dominica, Antigua, Barbados, Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, just to name a few. He was also a recipient of the Golden Drum Special Recognition Award for Promotion and Development of Art. This is a very prestigious award in the Commonwealth of Dominica issues to those who have made special contributions in arts and culture over a ten year period. Currently, Petros resides in Ontario Canada and is a full time studio artist.

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