I explored art’s capacity to elucidate the intricate challenges faced by individuals with intersecting identities. I recognised art’s potential as a powerful medium to reveal the tension between the so called ‘identity politics’ and the realities of social injustices. I began by conforming to my previous practice, with still life painting of objects heavily loaded with cultural significance. Now, I am breaking free of former structures to explore contemporary portraiture of the women in my family, in their varying degrees of disobedience and nonconformity. I aspire to sharpen my focus on race and gender issues and finding ways in which still-life and portraiture can combine and subvert each other.