Theodosia Salome Okoh (née Theodosia Salome Abena Kumia Asihene) was the artist who designed Ghana’s national flag, which was first hoisted by Kwame Nkrumah on the country’s Independence Day on 6 March 1957. T. Okoh was born to Anum Guan parents, the fourth child of the couple of Dora Poobea Akyea and the Very Reverend Emmanuel Victor Asihene. Her father, a pioneer graduate of the “Hand and Eye”, the first art-based curriculum introduced by the British colonial government in the late 1800s, was one of the Gold Coast’s earliest professionally-trained art teachers. Her older sibling, Ernest Victor Asihene (1915–2001), was an artist and scholar who became the dean of the College of Art and the pro-vice chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

In 1927, T. Okoh started her education in Effiduase, in the now Ashanti region, where her father had been posted as the minister to the Presbyterian Church. She then attended with her sister, Lucy Janet Abena Bohema Asihene, the Basel Mission Girls’ School at Agogo. T. Okoh stayed at Agogo to undertake the teacher training course. During this time, coinciding with World War II, the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) had started mass recruitments in the Gold Coast colony and elsewhere, and T. Okoh and her fellow students knitted sweaters, socks and scarves for the soldiers. After finishing the course, T. Okoh was posted for a short time to Akyem Kukurantumi, where she was the first female teacher. She then obtained a scholarship to enrol at Achimota Art School, where she was one of the three women who took the specialist course in Fine arts. She graduated in 1944, returning to Agogo as an art teacher. Half a decade later, she married senior public servant Enoch Kwabena Okoh. Together, they had three children. T. Okoh became a homemaker after her marriage.

T. Okoh came to design Ghana’s national flag through an open competition. In her autobiography, she explained: “I decided on the three colours of red, gold and green because of the geography of Ghana. Ghana lies in the tropics and [is] blessed with rich vegetation. The colour Gold was influenced by the mineral rich nature of our lands and Red commemorates those who died or worked for the country’s independence. Then the five-pointed lone star which is the symbol of African emancipation and unity in the struggle against colonialism”. T. Okoh’s overdue recognition for creating Ghana’s national flag came in 1997 when then president Jerry Rawlings awarded her the Grand Medal for her dedicated service to the country through the arts and the promotion of field hockey.

In the early 1970’s, T. Okoh’s favourite art medium became collage; specifically intricate compositions made of cornstalk, which included the United States Capitol, London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Achimota School Administration Block, the Parliament House of Ghana and the Supreme Court of Ghana. She both exhibited her collage works at home in Ghana and in the United States. T. Okoh also practised drawing, painting – both watercolour and oil . Her body of works ranged from portraiture to genre scenes. In 2014, T. Okoh notably participated in Three Generations of Women in Art, a group show at The Loom, one of the oldest art galleries in Accra. T. Okoh died the following year. Her grandson, Ian Jones-Quartey (1984), acclaimed US animator, stated in 2024 that “ [his] Grandmother is one of [his] greatest inspirations.”