Woman profile and Africa map on upper arm

Lettering · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo shows a solid black silhouette of a woman in profile, wearing a headwrap, hoop earring and layered beaded necklace, with one hand raised to her head. Her shape sits inside a fine outline of the African continent, and the word Africa is written in bold script beneath her. The work is in black and grey with smooth shading on the figure and clean linework on the map and lettering, photographed close up on skin.

Lettering Upper arm Woman Profile Bead Necklace Africa Map Script Silhouette

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Kwame,

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The harbour master's boy brought your letter up the hill on Tuesday, and I read it twice under the mango tree before I let myself cry. You say the ship is somewhere off the Cape and the sea has been the colour of pewter for nine days. Good. Let it be grey. Grey is the sea's business, not yours.

I have been tying my headwrap the way Auntie Efua taught me, folding the cloth three times, holding the crown with one hand while the other smooths the wings at the back. Every morning I think of you doing the same with your cap on the deck, and I laugh at myself for it. The beads I string for the Makola stalls are heavy this season. The big coral ones are for Ama's wedding, and I have kept the blue glass aside for you.

When the ship docks at Tema, bring me a paper map, not the one on your telephone. I want to trace the coast with my finger, from our street to wherever you are standing, and see how small the distance looks when it is inked. I have already drawn the outline of the whole continent on the back of this page, freehand, and I have drawn myself inside it, the way the women in the old photographs stand inside their villages.

When the nights at the rail feel too wide, put your hand to your head the way I do with the cloth. I will be doing the same here, at the same hour, with the lamp turned low. Sleep well, my son. Come home with salt in your hair and tell me everything.

Your mother