What’s New
Inside the Project….?

  Through Their Eyes:

Children’s Art in Times of
  War and Peace
at the Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, SD   
July 11, 2025 – January 4, 2026.    

This exhibition brings together hundreds of drawings by children from war-affected regions and over 900 works by students from Sioux Falls. Side by side, these drawings reveal a world split between war and peace—a paradox that reflects the reality we live in today. One world is shaped by trauma and survival, the other by safety and possibility. Yet all of the children speak through the same instinctive language of drawing—a language beyond words. This art becomes a document of emotion, memory, and imagination. It reminds us that even in silence, children carry powerful stories of pain, joy, resilience, and hope.

Though the drawings come from different places, the questions they raise are shared across borders—because the struggle between war and peace is not confined to one region. It is a global issue, urgent and ongoing. Peace is fragile, but it should not be guarded by violence. We must question a world that sees war as the path to peace.

This exhibition asks not only what children see—but what we choose to see in them, and in ourselves. Will we continue to accept violence as the cost of peace, or can we imagine another way? Some of my works are also featured in this exhibition, standing alongside these drawings to carry forward the stories, the questions, and the fragile hope that peace might one day be protected by understanding—not by war.  

Iconography:
A Living Tradition — The Timeless Tradition of Ethiopian Sacred Art
Debre Bisrat St. Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Las Vegas 2025 

   I have the honor of creating the full iconographic for Debre Bisrat St. Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Las Vegas—an ongoing and deeply meaningful project. This work is rooted in the sacred tradition of Ethiopian religious art, a visual language developed over centuries within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Known for its vibrant colors, frontal figures, and symbolic clarity, Ethiopian iconography is not merely decorative—it is devotional. It serves as a spiritual bridge between the earthly and the divine, guiding worshippers into prayer, memory, and sacred presence.

Ethiopian sacred art draws from early Christian sources, blending Byzantine, Coptic, and African traditions into a uniquely Ethiopian expression. The style remains faithful to ancient teachings, with precise attention to symbolic gestures, saints, and biblical narratives portrayed with humility and grace. Each brushstroke carries theological intention. In creating the icons for Debre Bisrat St. Gabriel, I work not only as an artist but as a servant of a living tradition—a spiritual legacy that continues to inspire and uplift.

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Art and Medicine:
         Where is Home? 

    The School of Medicine invited me to speak about the deep connection between art and medicine—two powerful ways we care for body and spirit. For centuries, art has accompanied medicine—not only to document illness but to comfort, express, and heal. Especially for children, art offers a language to share pain and memory, becoming a vital form of therapy.

Two years ago, I visited refugee camps in Ethiopia where families displaced by war lived in temporary shelters. Many children lacked basic needs and suffered severe eye infections. Alongside providing medicine and care, I began teaching them to draw. Their images revealed profound truths—fear, loss, and hope—that words often cannot express.

They gave me over a thousand drawings, which inspired me to combine their art with my own through collage and printmaking. This new work asks a vital question: Where is home?

Using various print techniques, I preserved their original marks while children living in peace later added color, creating a dialogue between trauma and healing. These drawings are testimonies—raw and alive. For the children, art was therapy. For me, it became medicine. Their story has reached the United Nations and the BBC, and I’ve been invited to speak in hospitals as someone who witnessed how creativity aids healing.

This project has evolved and taken on a life of its own. It now spans art, therapy, and healing. We are ready to present this journey in a major upcoming exhibition called…. Through Their Eyes: Children’s Art in Times of War and Peace
at the Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, SD
July 11, 2025 – January 4, 2026. 

  Exploring the Symbolism in the Seven Days of Creation Mural Project

In Seven Days of Creation , Mergia offers a compelling visual interpretation of the opening verses of Genesis—the foundational Old Testament narrative that describes the ordered creation of the world. Commissioned for a church architectural project, the artist submitted seven original paintings, each corresponding to a day in the biblical account. These works were later selected for transformation into large-scale exterior glass mosaic murals. The first six days—filled with dynamic acts of separation, formation, and life—provided Mergia with vivid visual material. However, his depiction of the seventh day, the day of divine rest, emerged more intuitively. Unlike the others, it was shaped through a process of deep prayer and contemplation, inviting viewers into a space of spiritual stillness and reflection.