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About Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng
Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng (1987) is an Artist, working primarily in ceramics and mixed media. He holds a BA Industrial Art (Ceramics option) from KNUST, Ghana, and an MFA in Ceramics from Illinois State University, USA. Japheth is a member of Artaxis and National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Japheth has exhibited his works in several prestigious solo and group exhibitions in Ghana and the United States including 2022 and 2021 NCECA Annual and Multicultural Fellowship exhibitions. Japheth has works in the permanent collections of the University Galleries, Normal, Illinois and other private collectors in the United States. Japheth is a recipient of Baber Fellowship, Multicultural Fellowship of NCECA, Lela Winegarner Fellowship, Marshal Dulaney Pitcher Award, Friends of the Art Grant and Zenobia Award.
My sculptures and paintings are inspired by Kente and its associated history in materiality. They explore the potential of textiles to communicate the complexities of the diaspora: separation, belonging, perception, anxiety, stress, adaptation, assimilation, fear, rejection, love, nostalgia, racism, and appropriation. These sculptures and paintings are my visual vocabulary for discussing the experience of entering and leaving the United States. Thoughts of my family, conversations with them, and their pain due to my absence influence the names of my works. I consider these sculptures and paintings as my diary of a monumental visual language commemorating my memories, mixed feelings and traumatic experiences. They are my appreciation, made material, of possessing multiple personalities while living in dual worlds. They are my research samples to unearth who I am.
The complexities of the diaspora are issues we seem to be aware of but there are more to them than we think we know. My research seeks to bring to the fore some of these complexities that are taken lightly but are having a huge impact on “diasporans”. Like the Akan proverb goes, wobɛn nsuo a na wote sɛ ↄkↄtↄ bↄ wa.” Let’s get close to the river and we will hear the crab cough.
About the art
Japheth Asiedu-Kwarteng (1987) is an Artist, working primarily in ceramics and mixed media. He holds a BA Industrial Art (Ceramics option) from KNUST, Ghana, and an MFA in Ceramics from Illinois State University, USA. Japheth is a member of Artaxis and National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Japheth has exhibited his works in several prestigious solo and group exhibitions in Ghana and the United States including 2022 and 2021 NCECA Annual and Multicultural Fellowship exhibitions. Japheth has works in the permanent collections of the University Galleries, Normal, Illinois and other private collectors in the United States. Japheth is a recipient of Baber Fellowship, Multicultural Fellowship of NCECA, Lela Winegarner Fellowship, Marshal Dulaney Pitcher Award, Friends of the Art Grant and Zenobia Award.
My sculptures and paintings are inspired by Kente and its associated history in materiality. They explore the potential of textiles to communicate the complexities of the diaspora: separation, belonging, perception, anxiety, stress, adaptation, assimilation, fear, rejection, love, nostalgia, racism, and appropriation. These sculptures and paintings are my visual vocabulary for discussing the experience of entering and leaving the United States. Thoughts of my family, conversations with them, and their pain due to my absence influence the names of my works. I consider these sculptures and paintings as my diary of a monumental visual language commemorating my memories, mixed feelings and traumatic experiences. They are my appreciation, made material, of possessing multiple personalities while living in dual worlds. They are my research samples to unearth who I am.
The complexities of the diaspora are issues we seem to be aware of but there are more to them than we think we know. My research seeks to bring to the fore some of these complexities that are taken lightly but are having a huge impact on “diasporans”. Like the Akan proverb goes, wobɛn nsuo a na wote sɛ ↄkↄtↄ bↄ wa.” Let’s get close to the river and we will hear the crab cough.