This painting is part of the series titled “I Am Her.” In this series, I create art pieces of inspirational woman from all walks of life. I photograph each of the women from four sides. Depicting a 360-degree view of the specific woman to look deeper and get a better understanding of the particular woman. I want people to look at these women and see little bits of themselves in them and that they would be able to say, “I Am Her”.

The first woman in the series is Jane, a working mother of a beautiful daughter and soon to be the mother of two. Originally from Kenya, Jane has called the UAE her home for the past ten years. In-between Jane’s busy schedule as an assistant showroom manager she still manages to be a hands-on mother. For me, she represents so many mothers all around the world that is building a career as well as a family and doing a wonderful job at it.

I used acrylic paint with a monochrome colour scheme for the portrait and for contrast in the background I used recycled Nespresso capsules and Softi candy wrappers. The recycled items are arranged to create a colourful pattern that represents that of Janes Kenyan routs.

Title: “I Am Her – Working Mother 1-4”

Dimensions: 600mm x 400mm

Medium: Mixed Medium (Acrylic paint glass paint, aluminium paint, Nespresso Capsules, Softi Candy Wrappers)

About the author, Mariska

Hi and welcome! My name is Mariska. I am originally from South Africa, but now call the world my home. I am an artist, designer, environmentalist, podcast host and speaker.

I started the Mama Earth Talk podcast in 2018 to share some of the things that I learned about just how easy it can be to reduce your impact on the environment. This then quickly grew into a forum that showcases the amazing things that many people are doing to make the planet better, and further into a source of hope and inspiration for many. A few of the amazing guests include Zero Waste Queen, Bea Johnson, Claude Silver, Kathryn Kellogg and zero waste chef Max La Manna.

If you do not already I urge you to follow me and my journey on social media (@designbymariska), and to refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot your own waste using the handy tips I post!