Mask by Dr. Vanessa Johnson
Associate Professor of Applied Psychology
Inspiration
This mask was inspired by the July 13, 2021 issue of one of Ghana’s premier newspaper. The issue featured the contestants in the “Ghana’s Most Beautiful” pageant and pictures from the same issue of the OBAASIMA women’s leadership summit which had been held in the city of Accra. The words across the nose of the mask “rediscovering true beauty” were placed there to reappropriate the belief that a wide nose, which is a phenotype of Africans, as a negative beauty standard. Ghana’s most beautiful take pride in their own standard of beauty.
