Cornelius Tuayan Keagon (/key'gun/; Spanish pronunciation: 'cornelio keagon'; born 6 July 1996), also known by his nickname Senator (or simply Senate),^[5] is a Liberian expressionist artist, blogger, philanthropist, actor and business student who is known for creating the art work "The Problem No One Talks About", and for his contribution to the 2019 Peace Revolution Initiative Forum, where his article, which expressed disappointment towards world leaders for failing to achieve world peace in the 21st century, gained online attention. ^[22][10] Keagon is also a humanitarian who advoctes for a world without hunger and poverty.^[58] He is the founder and president of the Liberian humanitarian and arts organization Arts & Positivity.^[82] His organization, currently supported by local and international philanthropists and politicians, have been providing basic needs and financial support to orphanages in Liberia since August 2019. Known to be an avid reader, Keagon writes for several blogs on a full-time basis, some of which includes Medium, Blogger, and WordPress.

Keagon was born on July 6, 1996, in Monrovia to bankers Sei and Selina Keagon. Both his parents are indigenous to Liberia. He has two older siblings; Kou Keagon-Baah, a financial analyst and Pvt. Joseph Keagon of the United States Army. As the youngest, Keagon is considered as his mother’s favorite.^{[11] [7]}

Keagon began his education at the Zoe Louis Preparatory School in Barnesville, a suburban community in Montserrado County. He was awarded at the end of his first grade academy year for being the most discipline student but was also criticized for being too shy.^[39]

As the son of a bank manager, Keagon had a strained relationship with his late father, which developed more as he grew up.

His childhood was disrupted by the Second Liberian Civil War which lasted from 1999 to middle 2003. During the war, Keagon's education ceased. When rebels reached the capital in early 2003, Keagon's parents relocated the family to Harbel, a suburban city outside Monrovia. After the the civil war, they moved back to Monrovia, where Keagon resumed his education.

Due to the relocation from Barnesville to Paynesville in the early 2000s, Keagon transfered to the St. Kizito Catholic High School, where he remained up to his junior year. In August 2010, after gaining promotion to the 8th grade, he transfered to the Christ the King Catholic High School and graduated in August of 2016 instead of 2015 due to the ebola virus epidemic in Liberia in 2014.^[10] He later enrolled at the Stella Maris Polytechnic University to pursue a career in business management.

From a young age Keagon had a business mind-set.

He helped run his father’s business.

During his junior year of high school, he decided to study business management as a career having been inspired by successful entrepreneurs Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, and Dan Lok. According to his personal blog in 2018, Keagon expressed that "he sees business as a means of solving people’s problems at a profit while making life easier for others."

During his early childhood, Keagon established his notion of becoming a politician, but it was later in his teens that he developed the thought of venturing into business as a career.^[13] By senior year of high school, Keagon was highly influenced by entrepreneur Dan Lok's YouTube channel.

He later began studying profiles of successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote. In February 2020, he stated on his personal blog;

In 2018, Keagon started his first business with $US50.00 when he opened "ForYou", an online store promoting local Liberian products to Liberians overseas. In it's first three months, ForYou grew from one member to twenty-five members, earning Keagon a profit of $850,000.00 Liberian dollars.^[44] In it's fourth month of operations, new laws were imposed on all international businesses operating over the internet regarding rights and taxes. ForYou didn't fit the requirements of the terms and conditions listed in a key section regarding taxes and had to be shut down.^[40] The business was shut down on September 11, 2018 but was reopened in early 2021. ^[6]

Dispact his family none social engagement in politics, Keagon has been cited on numerous occasions stating his interest in participating in local Liberian politics at some point in the future. Due to his political ambition he earned the nickname “senator” in high school.

In 2016, during a local phone-in radio program, Keagon admitted that politics was something that he could not avoid in his older years.^[16] He again stated in 2018, during a political debate, his interest in running for a government position after he establishes himself a lucrative business career at some point in the distant future.^[18] Keagon is also known to be an admirer of autocratic leaders.

During the Liberian general election of 2017, Keagon supported businessman and Chairman of the Cummings Africa Foundation, Alexander B. Cummings of the Alternative National Congress. He has also supported Liberian senator Prince Johnson, as well as former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Keagon’s political role models include: Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi, Abraham Lincoln, and Charles Taylor. In 2020, The Future Tops website listed Keagon as possibly a future President of Liberia.^[6][21]

A very private individual, Keagon is highly religious, he’s a baptised Catholic. In 2015, he became a dedicated Christian after the death of his father. He later became a non-alcoholic in 2017. He’s a lover of sports, a passionate soccer fan he supports Premier League team Arsenal. Keagon is an introvert, he doesn’t socialize. He is an avid reader who regards himself as an intellectual.^[7] His favorite novels include: The Mist, Lord of the Flies,^[59] And Then There Were None, Macbeth, and The Long Walk.

Keagon is a huge fan of the BBC. Since 2008, he has been a dedicated listener to BBC Radio. Although he lives outside the United Kingdom, he is a regular listener to BBC Radio 5 Live, and is occasionally tune in to BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. He has also been mentioned on the BBC World Service on a couple of occasions.^[19] Keagon enjoys listening to loud music and claims Rihanna as his current favorite pop singer, with Michael Jackson being his all time favorite. He is a fan of pop music, with the UK Singles Chart being his all time favorite pop chart.

Keagon is from the Mano ethnic tribe, from Nimba County, Northern Liberia. Although Keagon is Mano by tribe, he does not speak the language as he claims he was born and grew up in a home where the Mano language was not always spoken.^[11]

His mother is from the Lorma ethnic tribe, which originates from Lofa County, Northern Liberia. Keagon doesn't speak his mother’s native language either, stating it wasn't spoken enough during his childhood. During a traditional rally in 2017, Keagon was criticized for not being able to speak either of his parents native language.^[38]

Keagon has been described as a womanizer and a narcissist. In 2015, he was reported to have been in multiple relationships at once, he denied it stating that "he’s just a friendly guy with lots of female friends."^[7] He was again accused of dating multiple girls during his freshman year at college. Keagon has won all accusations of him being a playboy.^[20]

Keagon starting his drawings at the age of nine.

His early works consisted mostly of famous people. Keagon's parents encouraged and supported his work. His artistic skills later atrophied due to lack of use for a period of time.^[10][10] He wasn’t a fan of school during his early years but grew fund of it over time. In 2001, he moved to Paynesville, where he attended the St. Kizito Catholic High School up to 2009. While there, Keagon was recognized as an artist by his arts and crafts instructor. He won the best young artist award of 2007.^[10]

Keagon's paintings usually represents a historical event form the past or a current ongoing event.

In 2011, he did a painting about the Syrian revolutionary protest that gradually led to the Syrian Civil War. Keagon has a collection of paintings that describe the beginning and the ending of the Second World War, which he did in 2017. During Liberia's economic downturn of 2019, Keagon created The Problem No One Talks About, a painting that depicts injustice, corruption, and betrayal by the government.

One of Keagon's previous works include "There Is Someone Standing Behind You", a painting that was completed in February 2015. Portraying both misunderstanding and lack of communication during World War II, it depicts soldiers in a deadly battle against an unseen energy. ^[53]

In May 2019, Keagon created "It Shines Towards Us". It caught the eyes of many. Featuring a young African woman (who apears to be staring away from the camera) as she poses for a photo, the location of the painting is unknown as the background is covered in white, depicting the lack of appreciation from Africans towards Africa as the young woman represents the African continent. The woman does not smile nor look at the camera as she thinks herself as unworthy of a stare by the viewer due to her insecurity of not being attractive enough for the viewer's satisfaction.

Looking in as the viewer, you can see that the woman is beautiful.

Keagon’s objective of the painting was to show Africans the beauty of Africa. The painting was well received, with many in the art community regarding it as a political piece of art due to it's enchanting rhythm. In early January 2020, It Shines Towards Us won the best storytelling art work award of 2019 by the Local Arts Gallery Awards of District 5, Paynesville. The painting has won awards for best Storytelling, Best design, and The People's Choice at different local exhibitions. Keagon has won over fifteen different awards since 2007.^[48]

The following are the most notable works created by Keagon.

They have won the highest awards and have been categorized as either a historical or political symbol by art communities in and out of Liberia.

In March 2019, Keagon created a personal blog with Blogger through curiosity, having had no experience of blogging. His blog consisted of inspirational quotes and sayings about difficulty, determination, humanity and life in general. It attracted 85 visitors within it's first week, marking a successful start. After a month, his writings had inspired hundreds of thousands of people. There have been claims that Keagon's blog was sending out the wrong message in post done during the end of 2019. Quotes that were posted in December 2019 were said to have been based mainly on the theme of hatred, instead of love and inspiration as is traditional on his blog. ^[12]

In October 2019, a fan wrote Keagon's personal blog, stating that he was saved from committing suicide due to quotes and sayings he had read on the blog, having been down with depression and anxiety for over a year. This led to a controversy as many others claimed that the sender of the note was probably just a fan who got bored or was paid by Keagon. There wasn't any response.^[41]

Born to Mr & Mrs John Sei Keagon, Cornelius is named after a Commander in the Italian Regiment of the Roman Military. His siblings are both married. His brother was an electrical engineering student at the Stella Maris Polytechnic University in Monrovia before traveling to the United States, where he later joined the United States Military. His sister is a Financial Analyst who earned a degree from the Cuttington University in 2010. She later got her masters from the University of Liberia. Keagon has other siblings form his father's side, as his father had other children before meeting and marrying his mother.^[42]

Keagon's late father worked for the The Liberian Bank for Development & Investment for seventeen years, until his retirement in 2012. In December 2014, his father was appointed as deputy internal auditor in the audit department at the Temple of Justice, Republic of Liberia. His mother is also a banker who currently works as bank examiner at the Central Bank of Liberia. She has been with the bank for twenty years as of April 2020.^[44] In January 2020, Keagon's favorite cousin died at the age of 24, after suffering from hepatitis B for over three years. He was known as Johannes Bruce.^[28]

Keagon has strongly advocated against civil wars, injustices, and discriminations. He believes that technology would have been far advanced than what it is today if World War I and World War II had not occurred. He believes that there would have been the introduction of smartphones, modern televisions, and modern computers as far back as the 1980s, if those global wars were avoided. In 2019, Keagon wrote an article on world peace and poverty, in which he stated;

In mid 2019, Keagon envisioned a not-for-profit arts organization for the purpose of humanitarianism. The objective of the planned organization was to help the poorest in society with monthly basic needs through arts and creativity. Keagon founded Arts & Positivity on July 5, 2019, a day before his 23rd birthday. He initially planned the organization as a project of Nimba County only, but he later changed the service to national duty. He established the organization with fifteen members, all being local artist, including James Kollie, who's currently serving as Vice President.^[82]

In early August 2019, Arts & Positivity began distributing supplies of food items and clothes to slumps, orphanages and street vendors around Monrovia. The work was mostly done at night, due to Keagon's Robin Hood policy. By Christmas, the organization had completed their first quarter objective by providing supplies to over ten orphanages and slumps in Montserrado County leading to an increase in membership of over one hundred individuals who work as volunteers, as the organization was founded and is based upon a not for profit agenda.^[82]

Arts & Positivity includes philanthropists who are actively involved in providing support both financially and through gifts. They also carry-on financial education. They also host exhibitions occasionally to promote individuals who paintings have not been recognized, or new artists who talents were discovered by the community, or school.^[82]

In September 2021, Arts & Positivity was awarded the highest humanitarian award by the government of Liberia due to its prominence in the orphanages and slumps of Liberia.^[86]

Actor ^[87]

The Problem No One Talks About is a political and historical work that was created on August 15, 2019 by Cornelius Keagon. It sends a message of betrayal and injustice by the government.^[22]

The painting depicts a red solid wall that is almost entirely covered by white clay, a door that remains shut, and flowers growing near the facility. It place the Liberian people as sole protagonists, instead of observers. As Liberia struggled with a harsh economy crisis of 2019 under the George Weah led government, the painting sends a message of betrayal and injustice by the government. The red wall and clay represents resources that are being covered up by the government. The title of the painting represents the majority of Liberians who live in poverty. The painting is hugely recognize as a historical work of art as it is similar to a painting done during the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.