Silence Comfort is the name of the painting. The reason I chose to call it, this is that many women tend to keep their emotions to themselves. It is because they feel like they need to. As a woman, we have always been faced with backlash or hate for anything. To be considered even remotely attractive, society has set many guidelines that we must adhere to. Things like how we dress, our physical appearance, and how we blame ourselves for getting sexually assaulted or raped. Trying to fit in and live our own lives is a constant struggle for us, and we have to live in fear for our safety. Sexual assaults and other crimes are aimed at us. Whenever we make an attempt to speak up, we are always shut down by people on social media. Despite our efforts, we are still victims of society’s desires. I don’t think people can understand how hard it is to be a woman in today’s world. Growing up, we have always been told or taught how to keep a man. That we should follow our womanly duties because that is how it “should be.” We are often seen as the caretakers of others, but we never have time to take care of ourselves. For the iconography, I decided to come up with a painting about a woman who is comforting herself from all the hate she is receiving. I did this by painting the woman hugging herself. I hope that women will be able to understand this painting and
relate to it. You are not alone in feeling this way, and we must continue to work together to ensure our messages are heard.
