I was inspired by Cindy Sherman and Frida Kahlo to make the subject of my image myself. Cindy took many pictures of herself and portrayed many characters while Frida painted herself in the many stages of her life. My self-portrait is of myself, it is more of a self-identity portrait. I painted a picture I took not too long ago for Nigerian Independence day. In the painting, I am holding a Nigerian flag, which is where I am from. I chose to include the Nigerian flag because it plays a big part in who I am as a person when it comes to what I eat, the type of music I listen to and how I was raised. I chose a solid purple background to add color to my piece, which was inspired by Amy Sherald, in all her self-portraits she chooses a vibrant color for the background, which is kind of her signature. Purple is also my favorite color. The glitter and flowers I added to the painting was inspired by Mickalence Thomas, her artwork features beautiful black women and she always adds rhinestones to her pieces as her signature.
I can definitely understand what you mean with your flag playing a big part of who you are. As a Caribbean, it's the same for me. From the things I eat, to the way I was brought up, and even a lot of my views, they're centered around my Guyanese culture. I also can't believe this is your first time painting; it came out so good!
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