When I painted this painting in high school I was going through a lot of inner struggles with being a dark skin girl. So I painted my depiction of a black girl. This painting represents the power and strength of a black women. Its shows the beauty with in and out. We are not defined by out color and we are not just “pretty for a dark skinned girl”, because when you say that its not a compliment its an insult. Im not pretty in spite of my color, im pretty because of my color. Ive had to learn to love the skin im in and it took me a long time but I do. When I look at the painting i created I see every strong black women in American who made an impact (Rose Parks, Harriet Tubman, Ida B.Wells, Madame CJ Walker, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama ect.) And so many other in the world, my mom. After everything she went through losing my dad to a motorcycle accident and still being able to raise three kids by herself. She is the definition of a strong black women. So when i see this painting I see myself and how much I can achieve in this world and what I'm capable of. If given a chance I want to show other black girls like me that we are beautiful not just for looks but for who we are, we are smart and intelligent. You can make it in this world girl we all can because we’re not just pretty for a dark skin girl, we’re so much more than that.