Tradition and Hopeless Romantic, 2022

These paintings are a personal investigation on arranged marriages in South Asian culture. To convey the conflicting views towards marriage, I have depicted an obscured subject whose expression is unreadable. The smaller painting is a self-portrait, where I depict myself wearing my prized lehenga choli while rejecting the pressures of an arranged marriage. The placement of one canvas in front of the other acknowledges my progression of opinion over time as I build the confidence to shape my own future.

This artwork acknowledges what I have gained from this investigation – a confidence to shape my own future respectfully.