Masking is Fashionable
Masking is Fashionable by Amaranthia Sepia & Claire Jones
A rough digital collage of green-tinted and crumbled-up black and white newspapers. The green-tinted newspaper throughout the college is BayState Banner's weekly newspaper. It says, "Arts & Culture: Check Out More Arts News Online”. Below, it says the title of the article: "Sista Creatives Rising Opens Call For Artists by Celina Colby." Decorating the newspaper is a photo of Claire, an older Black woman with a shaved head, & Amaranthia, a young Black woman with long black locs. They wear black alternative-style clothing on their back porch and black and white KN95 masks. There are a lot of bright green trees behind them. “Opens Call For Artists” is circled with a red scribble.
Edited onto the collage is a cut-out of the same photo of Claire & Amaranthia, without the green trees. Both are outlined with a green outline with black speckles throughout the outline. White jagged lines surround their bodies. Roughly drawn doodles of yellow sunflowers with brown centers decorate the image. The college has a comic-style vibe.
“In my piece, "Masking is Fashionable," which showcases a newspaper collage of SCR's Art & Mind open call in BayState Banner's Newspaper in the background, my Mom and I are pasted on top of the collage wearing alternative style clothing and patterned masks. Since our work is focused on disability justice, we wore these patterned masks to show that masking doesn't have to be bland. We lived in Japan several years ago, where masking is a massive part of the culture. While visiting Shibuya & Harajuku, we saw people wearing masks with anime characters and funky designs.”
-Amaranthia Sepia
Amaranthia Sepia feels it's critical to use her voice to facilitate representation of marginalized women and marginalized genders. As a Buddhist Black invisibly disabled woman she highlights unconventional experiences through art. Amaranthia, along with her Mom, Claire, is the co-founder of Sista Creatives Rising, home of virtual charitable art event "Art & Mind," which helps creative folk who are marginalized women and marginalized genders gain accessibility and visibility in the arts to facilitate personal healing.
Returning to America after spending her childhood in Japan, Sepia was severely bullied. Creating works based on fond memories of Tokyo taught her the healing power of art. Since 13, she's coordinated art events on anti-bullying advocacy, BLM, disability, and women's mental health.
Claire Jones is Amaranthia’s mother and creative collaborator. In one week in March 2022, days after launching Sista Creatives Rising with her daughter Amaranthia, Claire lost her mobility by the hour. Enduring emergency surgery to remove a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma from her spine, she let go of all delusions and illusions about her health. Claire is now within the 1% category to walk again after such surgery. Now in remission, Claire redetermined to help marginalized women gain inner strength by accessing their artistic side.
A Buddhist and Frances Perkins Scholar, Claire's journey to scholarship began during her childhood in Barbados when she sought relief from the chaos of living under domestic violence. Claire uses her creative works and writings to encourage women trauma-survivors to utilize art for self-improvement.
Artwork by Amaranthia Sepia & Claire Jones
Object description written by Amaranthia Sepia
Objects of Access aims to start conversations about access, disability, D/deafness, chronic illness, and neurodivergence. It is borne from collective work, discussions on accessibility, disability justice, and is a living, breathing archive. Objects of Access invites reflection on a range of access needs, while provoking thought on accessibility as aesthetic and a continual process.