Tariku Shiferaw (b. 1983 in Ethiopia) is known for his practice of mark-making that explores the metaphysical ideas of painting and societal structures. This formal language of geometric abstraction is executed through densely layering material to create 'marks,' gestures that interrogate space-making and reference the hierarchy of systems. As the artist explains, "A mark, as physical and present as cave-markings... reveals the thinker behind the gesture—an evidence of prior markings of ideas and self onto the space."