Addis Newspaper began in 2014 as a solitary protest against the Ethiopian government’s crackdown on media freedom, which resulted in the banning of six newspapers and magazines. In response, the singular copies of handwritten newspapers are designed to resist mass production and censorship. The outdated news, sarcastic tone, and labor-intensive process became a poetic gesture, exposing both state-imposed and self-imposed silences.

In Addis Ababa, newspapers are often read communally in public spaces like Arat Killo, where people gather to borrow and engage with them. These informal reading spaces inspired the project’s format and ethos. Using the Ethiopian literary tradition of “Wax and Gold,” each issue layered meaning and critique, addressing themes from political transitions to the void left by suppressed speech.