DESMOND TETTEH ATITIANTI Original Work and An Artist’s Statement

DESMOND TETTEH ATITIANTI | AN ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My work seeks to interrogate the negatives and positives of the human journey through life. Focusing on both our successes and failures fully depicts who we really are, while just focusing on one aspect of these two components doesn’t portray who we really are. The work presented here, which is a portrait of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, portrays the two in inverse color. The use of the matchsticks as a medium for the creation of the work is based on the idea that human beings and matchsticks share the trait of ephemerality. Human beings, just like matchsticks, are ephemeral, yet have the potential to impact their environment and society, leaving an impression that can outlive their mortal and temporal existence.