Gouled Ahmed (b.1992) is an Addis Ababa-based Somali visual artist, costume designer, and director. His work explores the themes of memory and belonging through the lens of self-portrait photography, film, and textile art.

Gouled’s work deals with the notion of futurity and is heavily aimed at envisioning new and equitable aesthetic and sartorial futures for the Horn of Africa. Gouled is a recipient of the African Cultural Fund’s inaugural grant (2019) , the Prince Claus Fund’s inaugural Seed Award (2021), the Sharjah Art Foundation’s Production Programme Grant (2022) & The Graham Foundations Research Grant (2023). Gouled’s self-portrait photography work has been exhibited widely at institutions such as the V&A Museum,London (2022), The Brooklyn Museum (2022), the Portland Museum of Art (2023), The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australia (2024), Lahti Biennial, Finland (2023) Addis Fine Art Gallery, Addis Ababa Ethiopia (2022) Alliance Ethio-Francaise, Addis Ababa (2021), Northstar Church of the Arts, Durham North Carolina (2019); ZOMA Museum, Addis Ababa (2018) & at the Africa Center, London (2017).

His collaborative film practice with poet & filmmaker Asmaa Jama on the film ‘The Season of Burning Things’ commissioned by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre has been screened at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale in collaboration with the Goethe Institut and Theater Neumarkt’s 100 Ways to Say We program. It has subsequently been screened at the Oscar-qualifying Black Star film festival (2022), the Sharjah Film Platform 5 (2022), BAFTA qualifying Aesthetica film festival (2022), the Arab film festival (2022) at the Barbican Center in London & at Art Basel Hong Kong (2023). Their latest collaborative film ‘Except this Time Nothing Returns From the Ashes’ commissioned by Spike Island Gallery was exhibited at the gallery along with a multimedia exhibition in the gallery space. It is set to be exhibited in the Africa Center in New York City in June 2024.