Graphite 

Mediums: Graphite, Oil pastel, paper, and colored pencils. 

This was primarily inspired by the influences of catholicism in my Italian family, the legal requirement to uphold this religion in the country of our origin. Attending church as a child proxy to my cousin's on easter was always a strange occurrence. Growing up in my household, my mother never took us to church unless we spent the holiday with her brother. I vividly remember during prayer making eye contact with an older woman. I saw myself in her, her dark hair reminded me of my own, yet I distinctly knew she did not see herself in me. I used the oil pastels to draw a circle like pattern to mimic the draw her gaze had. Blue to show the coldness she had for me as a child, and barbed wire symbolizing the danger of judgement I always felt in church.