Aida Buzuayehu - International Community School of Addis Ababa

This piece is a telltale in the sense that it automatically gives a visual indication of
women’s’ melancholy. The young girl in this piece, the protagonist of the painting is
trying to write something but is unable to because her candle keeps burning out. There’s
a person in the left hand corner that keeps blowing the candle out and there are lots of
used matches all over the table depicting the amount of times she’s tried. In this piece I
believe Desta Hagos was trying to personify the misfortune, suffering and tribulation
that females went through due to their gender. The person blowing out the candle
personifies society as it never gave women a chance but us women, despite our
adversity as shown by the young girls tears never gave up, hence the amount of
matches.
“Melancholy”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
16