WHO AM I TO TELL THE STORY? WHO ARE YOU TO TELL THE STORY? In my billboards in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, home to tens of thousands of Ethiopian-Americans, the Amharic, Oromifa, and English text asks: “Who Am I To Tell The Story?” The question on my billboard is the first to appear in a 1984 novel by Baalu Girma titled Oromaye. The primacy of this question signifies an identity crisis for the novel’s protagonist, and also a through-line in Ethiopian history: identity determines perspective. The past and the future face each other in the present. Behind the question is a photograph I made with actors playing a scene from the novel in which a military strongman looks in the mirror and sees his arch-enemy. These billboards are a beacon to anyone who fears sharing their stories. Girma’s question destabilizes the notion of divisive politics, encourages participation in making history, and offers a more complex view of the human heart. And it raises further questions. Do we have the power to confront our own reflections in the mirror? Can we look at those with whom we disagree, even our sworn enemies, and find new ways to see ourselves in them? @forfreedoms 📸: @nedahnessgreene @thisisunfinished