Underneath
Oils on wood, 14x22"
Underneath is meant to convey the struggle of reconciling who society or others around you expect you to be, and who you actually are. To illustrate this, I used elements of my own difficulty with having a Japanese mother while physically appearing completely Caucasian. For a very long time I tried to find ways to look more like the rest of my mother's family, however at a certain point I realized that I would never appear Asian, and that it was not so terrible to look different. In the painting, the girl begins to peel off a heavily painted mask and her black hair to reveal blonde hair and her natural face.
Underneath is meant to convey the struggle of reconciling who society or others around you expect you to be, and who you actually are. To illustrate this, I used elements of my own difficulty with having a Japanese mother while physically appearing completely Caucasian. For a very long time I tried to find ways to look more like the rest of my mother's family, however at a certain point I realized that I would never appear Asian, and that it was not so terrible to look different. In the painting, the girl begins to peel off a heavily painted mask and her black hair to reveal blonde hair and her natural face.