Multitasker: The Inspiration

The mask project was one of my favorite activities of the trip. Every day we had a pretty busy schedule, filled with many activities. It could be visiting museums, to shadowing hospitals, to having multiple lectures. I personally loved our busy schedules because it allowed me to learn as much about Ghana and the culture in the short amount of time I was there. The mask painting was a nice break because it allowed us to relax, but still research topics about Ghanaian culture.
When we started the mask project, I had many different ideas it w as difficult to figure out which idea I liked the most. I decided to dedicate my mask to the street vendors I saw all around Ghana. While travelling to the multiple museums and hospitals, I saw street vendors everywhere. The woman street vendors would carry huge bowls of snacks and drinks, while walking around. Their skill impressed me because it takes a lot of balance to perfect it. I also noticed that many of the street vendors do this while taking care of their children. One time on the trip, I saw a street vendor holding a big bowl of waters on her head, holding her baby on her back and holding one toddler on one arm. I thought that was amazing. 
For the top of the mask, I used the Ghana flag colors, to show that the mask represents a Ghanaian woman. On the head I used different patterns of fabric, throughout my time in Ghana, I saw many different beautiful fabrics. I wanted to incorporate the fabrics to the mask to show a bit of the culture in the mask. For the forehead, I painted three Adrinka symbols. These three symbols remind me of the personality of these street vendors. The symbol on the right represents beauty, the symbol in the middle represents endurance, and the symbol on the right represents loyalty. Beauty, endurance and loyalty all represent these women doing tough jobs. I also added two seashells in the forehead because it reminded me of what I learned at one of our museum tours. Before cedis were bills, they used seashells. One cedi equals one seashell. I made sure to add a red lip to represent the beauty aspect of the street vendors. They are beautiful in the inside and in the outside.