I chose to represent my mom as my caretaker in both my realistic and abstract poses. My mom is definitely my role model; I hope to become half the amazing person that she is.  I wish to emulate her generosity, wisdom and self-sacrifice for others.  In the realistic pose, I chose to sit on the chair with my legs crossed, my right fist under my chin with my right elbow resting near my left hand on leg.  I meant to depict the contemplative nature of my mom that always gives way to helping and caring for others through compromise her own needs. I’d find her sitting as so on the sofa or on the bed. When I ask what she’s thinking about, she always tells me, “Nothing, nothing.” That she doesn’t want me to worry about the particular situation is also characteristic of her generous nature.  I find out about her thoughts through her actions. As she later talks about the situation, she teaches me the value of kindness, inspiring me to do the same. Of course I’ll never be as brave of a person that she has been, overcoming the most difficult obstacles to do what’s right, but I hope to follow the same path.

When the class tried to figure out the type of person I was portraying, I heard some interesting responses. I’d agree to some comments about the person being shy. Even though my mom may be shy at times, I intended to show her thoughtful side, which some people did point out.  I also heard some say that she is looking down to a child to try to explain something, but she isn’t able to utter anything, finding the situation hopeless. This response, of course, is very deviant from my mother’s personality for she’s always optimistic and tends to look at the cup being half full instead being half empty.

For my realistic pose, I displayed my mom’s devotion to religion and spirituality. She turns to the Islamic faith to get through most of her problems. In her regular prayer, I see her with her hands cupped together as she sits on her legs with both of her feet facing the right. I modified this pose to a more abstract one with classic prayer hands touching the bottom of her chin as she looks up to the ceiling towards God. I wanted to dramatize her spirituality for she looks to God for the ultimate solution, leaving earthly matters behind. The class definitely figured out this pose by pointing out the religious aspect as well as the fact that it was the same person. My mom’s altruistic nature may well be attributed to her tendency to perceiving the world through a religious and spiritual lens.