Aden Abebe is a multi-discplinary artist and founder.

Aden is the creator and writer of the CBC Gem series virgins! and co-founder of ART+HEALTH, a non-profit that uses arts and ancestral traditions to destigmatize mental illness and provide care to diverse Black communities throughout Ontario.

She is committed to telling stories and creating spaces that inspire empathy, empower the disenfranchised and meet at the intersection of art and social justice.

virgins!

Creator | Writer | Producer

Released in 2022 on CBC Gem, virgins! is a CBC dramatic comedy that follows four 20-something year-old women as they awkwardly navigate adulthood as millennials and love & relationships as virgins. Set in the multicultural hub of Toronto, Canada, their experiences are nuanced and contextualized through their cultural duality as East Africans - Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali & Sudanese - and Canadians.

Watch for FREE on CBC Gem

Art + Health

Founder | Artistic & Strategic Lead

Aden co-founded Art + Health in 2018, an arts-based non-profit organization that delivers culturally specific mental health programming to culturally diverse communities in the greater Toronto area. With a focus on East African communities, A+H works with youth, seniors, newcomers and families to provide food security, therapy, mental health education, and resource-bridging.

Visual Artist

Her 2011 photo series, Mental Health: a mother’s burden, a 2-piece visual essay, exhibited as part of the Selam Visual Arts Festival is the beginning of a larger series that is currently being produced. Created for a society where the topic has traditionally been neglected, dismissed and/or demonized, Aden’s work aims to offer a visual representation of diverse mental health issues affecting her community.

Aden wants to see her community heal and aims to create work that is part of that process by prompting critical discussion and telling untold stories.