Kirubel Mandefro (b. 1990, Ethiopia) is a painter whose work explores the psychological tension between belonging and becoming. Through diaphanous acrylic paintings on canvas, he examines tenderness, masculinity and the fragile conditions that shape human connection. Rooted in a search for a life beyond fear, his work attends to the textures of intimacy, vulnerability and closeness. 

Painted in earthy tones, cropped figures of men in moments of exposure carry traces of his queer and migrant experience while speaking to broader questions of belonging, desire and recognition. His paintings seek to offer moments of connection, a silent caress to viewers in what may be only a brief encounter. He treats the canvas as a space where masculinity can be soft without apology. For Mandefro, painting is both a personal necessity and a quiet act of resistance.