Drawn to Create

By Hailey Stangebye

Photos courtesy of Narel Argaw

It all started in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the Russian Center for Science and Culture. Or, as it was known locally, “The Pushkin Venue.”

Amidst the sprawling galleries and art shows, walked a journalist and his wife. She was eight months pregnant. They had recently moved their family from Moscow to Addis Ababa. That night, the woman tripped on a stair and fell. Though she recovered with ease, that memory at The Pushkin Venue remained. Unbeknownst to the young couple, their child, Narel, would grow up to be inexplicably drawn to this epicenter of artistic expression.

Narel Argaw says he used to get into mischief as a child.

“I used to skip school and go over to the Pushkin Hall, across the street, to watch the art shows and the galleries,” Narel says.

The Russian Center for Science and Culture, or “The Pushkin Venue,” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

At the time, he was only 8 or 9 years old. He would worry his parents by spending all day at The Pushkin Venue before walking home late into the night. Once his father discovered where Narel spent all of his hours, he remembered the nights he walked down those halls with his wife and said, “You know? I used to bring your mom in here.”

Not long after, Narel enrolled in a summer arts course at The Pushkin Venue. He’s been honing his craft as an artist, photographer and film-maker ever since.

Narel and his family moved from Ethiopia to California when he was a teenager. When he graduated high school, his family was dealing with the aftermath of the Great Recession. His family moved to Columbus, where his uncle lived, to seek out new opportunities.

This is the place where Narel devoted himself to his art.

“I was running away from art,” Narel says. “The more I came back to it, I started noticing that a lot of good things started happening. Then I was like, ‘This makes my soul happy.’”

“I was running away from art. The more I came back to it, I started noticing that a lot of good things started happening. Then I was like, ‘This makes my soul happy.'”

“For me, the more I grew up, the more I noticed that I have less time left,” Narel says. “I don’t want to make this dark, but what I mean by that is that you have one life to live and every day is a chance. Every day you wake up in the morning, that’s a new day. That’s a new chance. Why would I want to do something that I don’t like or I don’t enjoy not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow?”

Narel says that his artwork is strongly influenced by the culture in which he was raised.

“There was a lot of Russian influences in our house because my parents lived for about 10 years in Moscow,” Narel says. “There was a lot of literature my dad translated from Russian to Ethiopian to English. My dad was a journalist. If you’re a journalist, you’re bound to be friends with artists, musicians and everything. So he had stacks of paintings and rolled up sketches in the house that were gifted to him.”

Russian art, Ethiopian culture, the Bay Area arts scene — all of these experiences continue to shape what Narel creates in Columbus.

“I’m very proud of my culture. I’m proud of where I’m from and my background,” Narel says. “All of those influences really shaped me to be somebody.”

For one of his latest projects, Narel created a mural for the Harlem Renaissance’s upcoming mural series. For this piece, he threw himself into the history of the Harlem Renaissance and was “blown away.” Narel says he designed the mural to be a collage of the era, rich with elements of color, jazz and hope.

“I’m 100 percent sure that I see myself being great with art. Anything else I try to do just seems to fall apart because that’s not what I’m meant to do,” Narel says. “I do art to be alive. It makes me feel alive.”

“I’m 100 percent sure that I see myself being great with art. Anything else I try to do just seems to fall apart because that’s not what I’m meant to do. I do art to be alive. It makes me feel alive.”

Narel’s Work