The New Yorker recently published a thoughtful profile of Wunmi Mosaku, the British-Nigerian actor earning serious awards buzz for her role in the critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film Sinners. The piece itself is warm, reflective and deeply interesting. It follows Mosaku through a Brooklyn apothecary as she talks about pregnancy, reconnecting with her Yoruba heritage and the spiritual research she did to portray Annie, a hoodoo healer who protects characters from vampires in the film.

Unfortunately, much of that thoughtful reporting has been overshadowed by something far less flattering: the magazine’s illustrated cover image.

The illustration, created by artist João Fazenda, was meant to accompany the March 16 profile. Instead, it immediately sparked criticism online, with many readers saying the drawing barely resembles Mosaku at all. For an actor widely regarded as one of the most striking faces working today, the portrait struck some viewers as oddly distorted.

When Representation Misses the Mark

And this is where the conversation gets uncomfortable. Mosaku’s story in the profile is about cultural rediscovery. Raised in Manchester by Nigerian parents who pursued academic careers in Britain, she initially grew up disconnected from certain parts of her heritage. Preparing for Sinners changed that. Researching hoodoo led her to explore its links to Ifá, the traditional Yoruba spiritual system.

She even began studying the Yoruba language and weaving those cultural influences into her life and work. That journey is the heart of the article. It’s thoughtful and personal and exactly the kind of story that deserves careful presentation.

Which is why the reaction to the illustration has been so sharp.

For many critics, the problem is not simply that the drawing looks off. It’s that Black faces have historically been misrepresented in editorial illustration, whether through exaggeration, distortion or a lack of familiarity with facial structure. When a publication with the cultural influence of The New Yorker publishes an image that readers feel doesn’t resemble its subject, it raises questions about who is involved in the creative process.

What makes this worse is that the profile itself is strong. It gives Wunmi Mosaku depth, warmth and intelligence. It lets her speak about ancestry, spirituality, motherhood and craft in a way that feels rich and personal.

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A Beautiful Story Let Down by a Bad Image

And then the illustration undercuts all of it.

Instead of elevating Mosaku, the artwork distracts from her. Instead of capturing her beauty and presence, it flattens and distorts her features so badly that many readers were left asking the same question: how did this get approved? For a magazine as prestigious as The New Yorker, this does not feel like a minor slip. It feels careless.

That is why the backlash has landed so forcefully. People are not simply objecting because the portrait is “unflattering.” They are reacting to the familiar indignity of seeing a Black woman profiled with care in the text, only for the accompanying art to fail her completely.

This Is Exactly Why Representation Behind the Scenes Matters

Editorial illustration does not need to be photorealistic. That is not the issue. The issue is whether the subject is rendered with enough care, accuracy and humanity to feel recognisable.

Here, many people do not believe she was.

And that is where the criticism becomes bigger than one drawing. When Black faces are repeatedly misread, overworked or rendered without proper attention, it stops looking accidental. It starts to reflect a deeper failure in editorial judgment. An editor approved the illustration for publication. A decision was made to pair that final portrait of Wunmi Mosaku with the article. In the end, the image was judged acceptable and allowed to represent her on the page.

It was not. That is the real problem. A major publication ran a profile celebrating a talented Black actress at a career high, then paired it with an image that many viewers found disrespectful and visually off. The result was predictable: the art became the story, and not in a good way.

The New Yorker may have intended to honour Mosaku. But with this illustration, it handed readers yet another example of why representation in media is not just about who gets featured. It is also about who is trusted to depict them well.

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