- Medium
- Acrylic on paper
- Dimensions
- 30 × 42 cm
- Availability
- Available
- Price
- GHS 1,100
A woman in a red headwrap presses a fan of banknotes to her cheek — power, survival and the complicated love of money, painted without judgement.
The story behind the work
She is the woman who runs the market, and by extension the town. The tribal marks on her cheek say where she is from; the gold tooth and the cash say where she has arrived. I painted her on a flat, defiant yellow so there is nowhere to look but at her face — proud, tired, calculating, alive. We are quick to moralise about money, especially women's money. I wanted to paint the dignity of a woman who has had to fight for hers.
Artist's note
The hardest colour in the painting is her skin against that yellow. Everything had to hold its ground.
