This black and white oil painting is a self portrait meant to illustrate culture and reflection.

Hello, my name is Maya. This is my first time trying an all black and white, realistic painting (with some burnt umber). Although this is a self portrait, it's not necessarily the face that is important.

A necklace, a blouse and some fabric–the traditional Indian necklace is meant to represent one part of my identity as I am Indian from my father's side. The blouse, or rather the huipil, is a traditional top that El Salvadorian women wear. This one being my mother's. The fabric, carefully glued to the side of the piece, is called chitenge. It is traditional fabric from the place I have grown up, Malawi, Africa.  All these parts make up who I am and where I come from.

I call this painting ”Reflection” because everyone has their own background and that is something meaningful. I hope that, as I have, you too can take pride in your culture as well because there are always things to love about it.