Unease: The Inspiration

My inspiration for this mask came from my experience managing anxiety throughout college. My mask uses the colors white, gold, blue, and maroon. I chose these colors to represent my journey with anxiety; white represents my life before anxiety, gold represents the underlying causes of my anxiety, and maroon and blue represent the management of my anxiety. In Ghanaian culture, white represents purity. I chose to use white to represent my life pre-anxiety because those years of my life felt very pure. The color gold represents items of high importance in Ghana. I chose to use gold to represent the sometimes-unrealistic expectations I place on myself, which exacerbates my anxiety. I chose to use maroon and blue, which represent healing and love respectively, to represent the management of my anxiety. In my journey, I have learned that social support is instrumental in my management of anxiety, and only through social support will I be able to heal.
 
The forehead of my mask is adorned with the Adinkra symbol “Akoko Nan''. “Akoko Nan” is based on the saying “Akoko nan tia ba na enkum ba'' which roughly translates to “The foot of a hen steps on the chick, but it does not kill the chick”.  Although a bit cryptic, I understand this saying to show perseverance. I chose to use the symbol to remind myself that my management of anxiety is not a linear process, and I must keep pushing forward despite the fact that I may never be anxiety free.