The twenty-one photographs in this exhibition document a remarkable event in recent Ethiopian history, one that provoked fresh debate about both Haile Selassie and Ethiopia’s troubled political history. The photographs shown here explore the tensions between royal, state and religious hierarchies surrounding the ceremony, as well as more personal expressions of loyalty by some of the participants.

Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor of Abyssinia in 1930, but shortly afterwards fled into exile when Mussolini invaded the country in 1935. Despite his appeal to the League of Nations for intervention,...