By Sedem Kamassah
In this project I attempt to capture what it means to be grateful. Coming from a Catholic family, I was taught to begin every prayer/project with gratitude and thanksgiving, for it is what opens your heart to receive more blessings, or illuminate a path ahead. The themes explored are mindfulness, imagination, freedom, appreciation and gratitude for however I exist on and outside earth.
These original paintings were done digitally using Adobe Photoshop and Krita and Huion Drawing Tablet.
Pro tip: Click on the images to enlarge the view
I: The inner machinations of my mind
The first painting is an exploration of the way my mind works behind the scenes. An expression of mindfulness and gratitude, the image depicts a painting of myself with gears coming out of my head, with text overlaid that reads “the inner machinations of my mind…” Inner machinations can refer to the unique way my mind works and expresses appreciation for it, even though in the past, I was ashamed of how my mind works and the way I feel love.
Machinations usually refer to a scheme resulting in usually sinister intentions, but here,
everything a woman thinks is deemed evil by society and history. Women are not allowed as much freedom as men so the act of thinking and having opinions as a woman is seen as an evil thing. Inner machinations also play on the word “imaginations”. Due to the way my mind works, I have been called weird and strange and this painting is a way to accept who I am, queer or not, ready to make use of my mind to its full potential, regardless of how people want to use my mind to mock me and my mannerisms.
II: …Work to release me
…Work to release me, depicts an image of an earth fairy, with wings flying free from tangled vines. The fairy has been shackled to earth by the forces of nature, and while nature is mostly depicted as a benevolent all loving force, a mother, sometimes that love can get smothering and overwhelming. And I need to break free from my environment to find new discoveries using the inner machinations of my mind (imagination).
III: …And I still stepping in some intergalactic sh*t
…And I still stepping in some intergalactic sh*t, is the final piece in the first act. This is a depiction of how even when we break free of our earthly shackles and acquire the range to sing to the stars, there’ll always be someone below you trying to bring you back down.
But they are so below you at that point that they become a minor inconvenience. Still an inconvenience though…
The painting depicts a human, now a heavenly body, a woman journeying through space with
the earth as her head, stepping on a newspaper article discarded from Earth as space junk from Ghana. The articles are full of the country’s biggest media publications being a loud mouthpiece for promoting bigotry and homophobia. The headlines are barely legible because whatever they think does not matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters most is respecting the freedoms and dignity of the people.
About the Artist:
Based in Accra, Ghana, Sedem Abla Kamassah is a single mother and digital artist whose feminism is both a personal journey and a daily act of resistance, rooted in justice, empowerment, and equality for all genders. Through her art and parenting, she challenges societal norms, amplifies the voices of women and gender non-conforming people, and creates space for future generations to dream freely and live authentically. She is on the visual arts track for the 2025 Adventures Creators Programme.
