More Than Our Story
John Amanam
John Amanam shares his inspiration for founding Immortal Cosmetic Art Ltd., Africa’s leading producer of hyper-realistic prostheses, along with his vision for the future of his company and the field of prosthetics. He also describes the Amanam Terracotta, a collection of archaeological finds he is credited with discovering, dating, and documenting, exhibited in the Immortal Gallery of Art.
Highlights
I always knew creativity was part of myself. It’s a family thing. My dad is an artist, his dad was an artist, and so on. So, I've always been part of the creative space, but I never thought about going into hyper-realistic prostheses.
I like three-dimensional forms... I like filling my sculptures... That has always been something I've always done right from childhood. Building stone and sand sculptures, trying to create mud houses out of clay, and playing around with clay. I also grew up watching my father creating sculptures. He was always in the studio. I grew up in an environment where art was always around me.
I never wanted (Immortal Cosmetic Art) to be a company initially; I just wanted to solve a problem. I still remember after creating Ubokobong’s first hand... I started receiving calls... Someone had shared my work online, and it went viral... I'm (was getting) calls from Ghana, from the USA... It was something people really wanted. I never knew we had so many people in need of these services until that very moment.
I’m the one who said I'm going to be serious about (this) ... I had to start organizing myself, having an office, registering a company name, having to attend to people who wanted to ask things of me... I received like 200-300 calls in a day, and I was like, "Wow, this is massive." That really inspired and drove me to be serious. I realized this is business. I need to attend to people's needs, especially to people who have my skin tone.
Every concept comes in stages. My earliest stage in the creation of hyper-realistic prostheses was battling with the materials. Being sure of where to get the materials, how to manipulate the materials, and how to to produce prostheses that would meet the hyper-realistic standard. It was a very serious matter for me, having not had a mentor, a book, or an academy to get these ideas from. So I kept researching... until one day I shouted, "Eureka! I found it!"
It didn't just end there, when I registered my company, Immortal Cosmetics, I realized I wasn't used to the formalism. I wasn't used to (it) as an artist; I wasn't used to being too formal, too corporate, having an office, spending time trying to organize documents. I wasn't really used to that. But I could engage myself. I had to go for seminars, train myself, and also ensure that the company was moving like every other company. So it was... an awesome experience, transforming from an artist of the visual form to a more corporate entity... It was worth it!
Every day comes with a series of new challenges. I still remember my first one (prosthetic)... People started calling me. I only knew how to produce a finger and a thumb, but people had already started calling me: "I need an ear; I need a nose." These were things I was still researching. I was confused; I was worried. I had to sit back and say, "I’m a researcher. I'm the solution."
On becoming the first African to secure a patent for hyper-realistic prostheses:
A lot of things went through my mind when I got that patent... They were shocked; they were amazed. They were happy to grant me that patent because it was an idea not born out of selfishness. It's an idea that will touch lives.
On receiving his patent:
I still remember looking at those documents for days. Every morning, I would just look at the document like, "Wow, is this me?" I already had this worry when I started doing these hyper-realistic prostheses. I felt someone would try to win the legacy, or try to steal, copy, or compete. But along the way, I realized that my technique was very different and very difficult to achieve.
I'm excited. We've been able to solve people’s needs, solve their challenges, and we look forward to more innovation, more ideas, and more chapters in the production of hyper-realistic prostheses for amputees.
On the development of Immortal Cosmetic Art's next-generation bionic prosthesis:
It was a project I deliberately engaged in. As an innovative person, I sat back and said, "What's the future of all we are doing?" The future of what we are doing is fashion. I've always thought of people being so comfortable with their prostheses that it becomes a style... So in 2023, I engaged the team (including) my younger brother, since he's (an) amputee and also a science student. (He) would be the best person to carry out this research, owing to the fact that amputees and people who are disabled are in a better place to understand how it feels... They are in a better place to say... "What can we do to solve this pain?", or "How do we fix this?"
We believe that in the future, people will actually want prostheses for fashion.
I also employ some amputees. I am looking forward to a future where 40% to 50% of the staff I have, the workers I have, are amputees. Especially for this company, Immortal Cosmetic Art, they are the ones that do the research. They are the ones that we will empower to work on the challenges that they face every day. They are the ones that will interpret to us how they feel, and what they feel should be the future in prostheses.
On Immortal Cosmetic Art's mission:
To help (amputees) gain back their confidence, their comfort, and also let them know that disability is an opportunity; an opportunity to evolve, an opportunity to look beyond your situation, and see yourself as a researcher, as a superhuman, as someone who has gone through a lot, but is still alive.
In the next five years I may not be actively involved in the production of hyper-realistic prostheses. I'm looking at an industry where we've grown people. An industry where we've mastered the templates, we've evolved beyond manual labor into a digital space where we create custom-made prostheses to match individual needs across the globe.
I have a lot of other inventions I'm still working on. I have a lot of things I like doing, like archaeology. I'm a researcher and an adventurer.
If you go down history, you (see) the likes of Leonardo da Vinci... He was a painter, an artist, and a sculptor who dissected the human body; he was one of the earliest to lay down detailed drawings of the internal structure and external structure of humans. This is (to) point (out) that the artist is a very good tool in society. In almost all spheres of professionalism within medicine, law, whatever it is... the artist needs to be empowered.
On how to further foster collaboration between the sciences and art:
Research. I am a solution-driven individual. I believe the first thing is identifying a problem in society. "What's the problem? What are the needs? What are we studying? What have we noticed?" The artist and the medical professional community should come together as research partners to understand. We could talk business later, but let’s research the patients you have.
My interest in archeology began several years ago. I grew up in a city called Calabar, in Cross River State. I watched my dad and a renowned professor of archeology, Professor Ekpo Eyo. They went from place to place, making discoveries, finding artifacts, and dating them... He contributed so much, not just to Nigerian archeology but also to the African space itself. So I drew my inspiration from watching the different kinds of objects discovered that really point to the fact that we Africans are as ancient and as old as existence. He informed me that there is more to our existence than what we have in books and journals.
I decided to do research about the Ibibio people. For almost ten years, I was trying to find how to connect, to see if there were items underneath the earth, and I found a series of pieces: drawings, terracotta, iron. So, I documented (them)... I also have a team who assist in documenting all of the information. We are trying to compare them to see (if we can) make out something interesting... It's a very interesting experience. I know my dad was surprised that I had chosen to continue.
On the Immortal Gallery of Art:
Immortal Gallery of Art houses contemporary artworks and (pieces from) antiquity; the works, their dates, and all of that information are labeled and kept separately from contemporary art.
On Pan-Africanism:
Pan-Africanism is a movement that calls for the unity of Africa. The love for Africa and the commitment to Africa... We have to commit ourselves to coming together, to working together, to solve our problems, and to evolve like the others. Pan-Africanism is all about love for the continent, working for the continent, living for the continent, and thinking for the continent. We need to think for ourselves, and black people need to solve our own problems.
On receiving recognition and awards from his peers:
It means a lot to me. It shows the impact of my work... It places me on that stage to understand that what we do is watched by the whole world... and that we need to evolve. We need to be serious. We need to perfect our crafts. So it's a thing of joy... I feel fulfilled.
Many years ago, I looked at an individual who was complaining, and I told him, "I'm looking for a problem. I'm not looking for a solution... I'm looking for that problem that, if I solve it, will be the master key to solving other problems."
The production of hyper-realistic prostheses has given me a boost. It has helped me both financially and globally. To have a platform to solve other problems.
We need to go into society and look for that problem, that rare, unique problem that is challenging. There are problems literally everywhere. Let's not look for jobs; let's look for problems and solve them.
On his legacy:
I will be the African that solved problems for Africa, in Africa, lived and died in Africa. That’s how I want to be remembered.
Immortal Cosmetic Art
Custom made prostheses for amputees of African Origin and Black People all over the world.
Immortal Gallery of Art
Immortal Gallery of Art is a contemporary art gallery which also houses ancient pieces of art.
Daniel
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