In one of his earlier photographic projects, Eyakem Gulilat did something unusual after taking a portrait: he handed over the camera. The person he'd photographed could make a portrait of him in return. Then he photographed the space between them. The series, Collaborative Self, made the exchange itself part of the picture.

That approach has roots in a life lived across places. Gulilat grew up in Ethiopia and Kenya and came to the United States as a teenager. In a 2021 oral-history interview preserved by Oklahoma State University, he recalled entering college on an engineering path before an art elective caught his attention. He went on to study photography and earn a master's degree in fine arts at the University of Oklahoma.

Photography became a way to explore identity, memory, and the experience of arriving somewhere new. For Collaborative Self, Gulilat invited participants to wear traditional Ethiopian clothing, something he said challenged assumptions about what it means to be Ethiopian. The Oklahoma Arts Council’s account of the project shows an artist interested not just in taking pictures of other people, but in what happens when both sides get to look.

Now another part of his Ethiopian heritage is finding its way into his Tulsa studio: coffee. Gulilat plans to launch Midrib Coffee on Friday, November 6, during Tulsa Artist Fellowship's Among Artists gathering. The Fellowship's event program shows a packaging mockup featuring Gulilat's cyanotype artwork, made with a photographic printing process known for its blue tones.

Coffee is not a sudden departure from his work. Gulilat and fellow artist Evan Clayburg received support through a 2025–2026 Thrive grant for Brewing Dialogue. Their project plan brings the Ethiopian coffee ceremony into community art gatherings across Oklahoma, with coffee grounds, stains, and filters used to make visual work. It treats sharing coffee as an opportunity for hospitality, conversation, and creation. The grant announcement describes the project’s design, not a tally of ceremonies already held.

With Midrib, that connection takes a different shape. Photography appears on the coffee packaging instead of only on a gallery wall. The Fellowship also says coffee from Gulilat's family's farm in Ethiopia will accompany a presentation the following day. The family's farm, his artwork, and the traditions of sharing coffee all enter the same Tulsa conversation, though details of Midrib's future pricing and retail availability have not been announced in the event program.

On Saturday, November 7, Gulilat plans to introduce Sacred Grounds, a film project, with a brief reflection and screening of its trailer during the Fellowship's Between Practices program. The organizer connects it with his earlier Impermanent Presence work and questions about the practices people carry from home. The full film's Oklahoma premiere is still ahead; Saturday's presentation is an introduction, not the premiere.

Tulsa residents can encounter the new label at Open Studios on Friday, November 6, from 7 to 9 p.m., at 109 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Between Practices runs Saturday at the Fellowship's Flagship space, 112 N. Boston Avenue, between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.; the precise time of Gulilat's segment hasn't been posted. Among Artists is free and open to the public, according to the organizer.

The coffee launch is still ahead. No one can report how it will be received yet. But there's already a story to discover: an artist who once shared his camera with the person across from him is making another invitation to gather, this time around coffee with a connection to home.