Otis: The Inspiration

My mask was inspired by the mourning process in Ghana and my personal experience with loss and grief. The mask uses the traditional Ghananian funeral colors, black and red. In Ghanaian culture, red symbolizes death, funerals, and mourning while black symbolizes mourning and passing rights. I used these colors when painting my mask and shaped the red paint below the eyes to mimic tears. This mask relates to my mental health journey and my grieving process of the past. This includes healing from the loss of a past self, a sense of comfort and security, and letting go of the unachievable ideal of what my life should look like. 

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The forehead is stamped with the Wawa aba adinkra symbol, the West African symbol meaning “the seed of the Wawa tree”. The symbol represents strength and perseverance through hardship because the Wawa seed is tough. I painted this to symbolize the strength and perseverance that I and others must sustain to overcome adversity. The meaning behind the title, Otis, is inspired by black artist Otis Redding and his cover of the song “A Change Is Gonna Come”. I grew up listening to this song which speaks to the inevitability of change and the fatigue of suffering alone.