Week 1

Finally I was able to take the photography class. It was being offered online at West Valley. I wanted to learn how to use my camera. First week was to just take some pictures. I took pictures in my backyard. My favorite was the quail picture.

Self portrait as someone else

This time the self portrait is to be painted as someone else. I decided to paint myself as a kathakali dancer. The makeup and head dress is very detailed. In this form of dance, a story from Mahabharata or Ramayana is told. The good characters have green makeup. The bad or angry characters have red makeup. The very bad or evil characters have black makeup. The holy characters have yellow makeup.
When I painted myself green, my daughters did not like it at all. But I enjoyed doing it.

Nirbhaya

Nirbhaya was a sensitive topic. We were supposed to make a painting based on an event. On December 2012, a girl was violently raped. She did not survive. I decided to make a painting in her honor. She was given many names by the public. I chose Nirbhaya as the title of this painting. I tried to keep a positive note.

The green boxes are the letters of the Rape. Respect for R and I used synonyms for Respect and continued with that thread for rest of the letters A, P, and E. I also wrote them in Hindi.
The big eye is the eye of the man, how he looks at a woman.
The big door is closed which means that there are several things that are still not open to women. The small door is slightly open, showing that there is hope.
Dresses modern and traditional. Girls like to dress in contemporary fashion, like to do makeup. But when incidents like this happen, then girls are blamed, and the society becomes more cautious.
Sports, education, cooking, Technology, everything a girl/woman is capable to do and should continue doing.
The face shows the despair.
The noose shows that severe punishment should be given to the rapists.
Each box is outlined with traditional rangoli borders.