Self Portrait at 19

Conte on Canson mi Teintes Paper

19x25

April 2022

Inspired by Amrita Sher-Gil's "Self Portrait as a Tahitian" - 1934, this self portrait represents the reclaiming of my own sexuality and identity as an Asian American woman. 

Sher-Gil's painting (shown below) served as a powerful commentary to the painting "Two Tahitian Women" by Gaugin. During the orientalist movement, Western artists often illustrated Asian and Middle Eastern women as nude or partially nude, in a voyeuristic sense as a suggestion to their perceived savagery, sexual nature, or exoticism. In Sher-Gil's painting, she depicts herself partially nude, turned away from the audience as the shadow of an implied male figure hovers over her. In this drawing, I am posed in the opposite direction of Sher-Gil's subject, directly facing and confronting the audience.

Growing up in a society ingrained with Western beauty standards, fetishization of Asian women, and racism, I was constantly fed misguided notions about what it means to be feminine. As I enter adulthood I refuse to feel insecure and to change myself to conform to the white male gaze. In this drawing, I was able to express my femininity, confidence, and artistic vulnerability through an exploration of my physical appearance untainted by the Western eye. 

Self Portrait as a Tahitian - Amrita Sher-Gil

1934

Two Tahitian Women - Paul Gaugin

1899