Makeda
Tadesse
I’m an interdisciplinary artist and data storyteller specializing in digital humanities and data visualization. What’s found at this
intersection of data science and narrative is my passion for research: thriving in themes of memory, refugee stories and global politics,
and ethnomusicology. Using interactive map-making and archives, I’m excited by the possibilities of using design and data to disseminate
information and research.
I am completing my M.S. in Data Analytics and Visualization at the Pratt Institute, with a dual-certificate in Digital Humanities and
Spatial Analysis. Before this, I worked as an Assistant Curator and Producer at Public Functionary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and as a
Research Lead at the University of Minnesota’s Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice. My 6+ years of experience in
research, storytelling, data science, and the arts continues to become refined as I grow in my education.
To learn more about my creative projects, check out Right Brain
Selected Works
All Projects →Neighborhood Corridor
An interactive project mapping the potential route refugees in 1989-1995 Ethiopia and Eritrea may have taken to Khartoum, Sudan, taking into account conflict zones and elevation. Part 2, Neighborhood Resurrection is ongoing and investigates the story of childhood best-friends that reunited after fleeing to different camps forty years later.
Tracking Ethnic Enclaves and English Language Adoption
A spatial analysis of Somali acculturation patterns in three distinct U.S. counties: Hennepin (Minnesota), Franklin (Ohio), and King (Washington)
Return, Remains
A digital repository exploring nostalgia across diasporic narratives with interviews and reflections from artists part of Adera Lije; Adera Lijen.