This painting is inspired by War and Peace by Hendra Gunawan (1918 - 1983). I really enjoy looking at Hendra Gunawan’s paintings, I was in awe by the fluidity yet roughness of the brush strokes. I later learned that he was part of a Painters Front which would depict the war with their paintings, which I found extremely interesting.

This painting resembles my immigrant experience from living in London for a good chunk of my life, but being ethnically Indian. I moved to London in 2011 when I was just six months old, which is what the number represents. I would sometimes think I was different to others because of my surname. When I was nine years old (by this time I had moved to Singapore), my teacher asked me where I was from to showcase the class’ diversity. I told him I didn’t know. Two years after that incident, I thought about my identity for a while. I decided I wanted to balance “Indian Tanvi” and “London Tanvi” and accept myself fully.

The elements of this painting that show the balance in me is the red and white striped t-shirt (which was taken from the original painting), the telephone box, the underground (I used to commute with public transport often), as well as the lotus, paisley, the rangoli (a pattern that originates from India which is commonly made with chalk or powder) around it, pair of eyes with a bindi, a diya (a cup-shaped lamp filled with oil which you light during Diwali or whilst worshipping God) and a cup of chai which can be also interpreted as a cup of English breakfast tea.

For the background, I tried to use two contrasting but vibrant colours which reminded me about the colourful celebration of Holi. I used watered-down paints near the middle to help blend the colours and I added a baby blue for details. I tried to use the most prominent colours from the original painting in the number, and I used a darker shade of blue-green and purple for the outline of the paisley. I’m really proud about the details on the diya and teacup, it came out exactly how I imagined.