between wata and self
A series of ceramic masks examining how colonialism and the rise of Western Evangelicalism shaped perceptions of womanhood in West Africa, and how these shifts trickle down generationally.
I drew inspiration from Mami Wata, a water goddess who once symbolized feminine authority and empowerment in Ghana but was perceived as satanic, ungodly, and malevolent in the post-colonial period. The masks serve as a means to reconstruct these narratives and explore the creation of an alternate self. Beginning with molds of my own face and incorporating elements of pre-colonial Mami Wata masks, the forms evolve into personal re-interpretations of the water spirit, and result in figures that exist between self, spirit, and generational memory. The piece is viewed in the round.