Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu on Travel and Leisure

May 28, 2016

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Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu is an Ethiopian visual artist whose practice focuses on painting and encompasses elements of performance, installation, video and collaborative projects. Here, he speaks with Adebimpe Adebambo on spending his leisure and on his favourite travel destination.
What’s your favourite dish when not at home?

Depends on where I am, though I mostly enjoy Thai food.

What is your ‘must have’ item you cannot travel without?

If travelling abroad, it is a must for me to take coffee with me. Ethiopian coffee is something special…

How do you spend your leisure?

Mostly by trying to be quiet (mentally) for few a minutes.

What is your favourite holiday destination and what activities do you engage in while on holiday?

The definition of holiday for me is not always confined to a specific time of the year. I remember the first time I planned to have a holiday was in 2013. I travelled to Berlin and had a wonderful time. It was filled with exhibition openings, museums and of course, great food. But I think that was my last proper holiday. I feel like I have informal holidays in my everyday life, like few a minutes in my day; it differs how I spend them.

What would you like to find in your mini bar?

Hmm, I would like to find a bottle of whisky (just a cold beer would work for a regular day though).

Describe a holiday disaster.

As I mentioned, my holidays are fragmented into few minutes of my day. But I want to go back to my childhood and remember the excess food the family prepares for festivities. As children, we were invited by neighbours to celebrate the holidays with good food, but we used to eat too much and suffer from it for the rest of the day! It seemed like a disaster we knew would happen and yet kept doing it.

Adebimpe Adebambo

Adebimpe Adebambo is the Business Development Officer at Revilo, an art and culture publishing company. She studied Painting at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. Adebambo is also a fashion and accessories designer, and her work is concerned with environmental sustainability and recycling. She debuted as a costume designer on Tunde Kelani's award-winning film Dazzling Mirage, garnering for her efforts, 2 nominations in 2015 for an Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Award and an African Movie Academy Award for Best Costume Designer and Achievement in Costume Design, respectively. Adebimpe Adebambo loves to write and is presently working on a storybook.