Guyana, the land of different faces and six ethnic is a plethora of diversity and culture, and on any given day, especially during festivities like Mashramani, Independence Day, Carnival and other cultural events, Guyanese can be seen celebrating and promoting their diversity together in unity.

However, when the political season comes along, tensions run high. At such a time when the atmosphere is tense in Guyana, words and messages of togetherness and love are most needed. Using his platform to share just that, digital artist Micheal Griffith has been using his talents to pour love and unity into the atmosphere and urge Guyanese to stop the political rhetoric.

In one of his most famous patriotic pieces, Griffith drew a picture of the leaders of the two dinosaur political parties in a warm loving embrace.
He told The Buzz that the portrait was in inspired by the events leading up to the events of the previous elections in 2015, however to date, the message of the portrait is still relevant and even more powerful as Guyana has been in a political impasse for the last four months.

“I wanted to perpetuate or at least plant the seed of no matter what happens Guyana is ours and it belongs to every Guyanese including the leaders and it’s something we should keep in the back of our minds …Guyana is the priority,” Griffith said.

He noted that having a platform should amplify the impact and the responsibility one has to their fellow brothers and sisters; with his talent, he believes he as the responsibility of sending out a positive message of unity to the Guyanese people.

“I believe it is imperative that we realise or recognise our responsibility but at the same time being an artist I understand the importance of feeling like you have the autonomy to be your true self even if [you’re] not accepted as an ideal moral model, so I try to get different perspectives so personally I believe I have a responsibility,” he said.

Griffith, who uses the colours of Guyana’s flag the Golden Arrow Head in the majority of his pieces, noted that he does so in most of his drawings to amplify the message that at the end of the day after fighting and belittling each other, “We are all Guyanese and we all belong to the same place; we all belong to the same land. It is literally a case of us fighting against ourselves.”

In one of other his pieces, Griffith drew two men fighting on the country’s flag. He noted that the two men represent the supporters of the two main political parties in the country fighting against each other which, in the end, is senseless.
“I used the flag to drive home this idea. Fortunately the flag was perfect since it had two of the colours that represented the two main political parties that a lot of the hate was being transferred between,” he said.

Griffith, who is 34-years-old, told The Buzz that he has always had a knack for the arts and has been drawing for as long as he could remember, however, he has been drawing professionally for the past eleven years.