We all are born differently and we all have different ways of expressing and portraying ourselves in society. Those aspects shape who we are as a person, such as what we believe in or something we love. These different things make our identity and who we are recognized as and what we are. In the photograph the idea being represented is what ideas and impressions does the photograph suggest to you?

After analyzing the picture given something that stands out to me the most are the tattoos the female individual has all over her body. There are many kids around herself  and a famous cartoon character Hello Kitty. The expression of joy and happiness on her face shows how she feels about her and the way she is expressing herself. This gives me the impression of being whoever you want and not being worried about what society thinks about you. The picture is black and white which means it was taken quite some time ago. To me the idea I have is that she is happy with who she is and the kids can symbolize her love for children and the cartoon character as a love for animated shows. Her smile tells us the whole story behind this picture, she is clearly showing off all her tattoos because that represents who she is as a person. No one cares that she is a lady and it is odd to have so many children over her body, it shows how she is not judged by her identity. This is significant because it shows in that day and age that no one is afraid of judgment and people can freely express themselves without having to worry if someone else does not like it. Your identity is who you are as a person and no one can change it whether they like it or not. 

I have a very important relation to this topic. When I was a younger child around 12 years old I used to tie a turban. I had long hair and that represented my religion, because one of the most important parts of being a sikh was having long hair. Anyways, I used to go play basketball at my nearby recreational centre and went swimming there. It was a very diverse place but oddly enough I was the only turbaned guy amongst my friends. They used to tell me how they thought I was a girl at first and was weird for “wearing a turban” I was very devastated that the people around me thought of me like that, but deep down I knew that this was the representation of my religion and that no matter what I would not cut my hair. But the rude remarks kept on going and hurtful comments were made, this really started  to affect me because I was judged of my identity. I was a proud sikh and I loved being one. But when the remarks were made I started overthinking. For example, one thought came to me and it went like this, “I could cut my hair but people would still know I am a sikh because I wore a religious bracelet”. But the thoughts of my grandparents disappointment kept on eating me. But I was proud of my identity and after awhile I started ignoring those comments and was happy with who I was, I slowly started distancing those people and became even more happier with myself. So in the end I was happy with who I was and would not care of people thought I was a girl or that it looked odd. No. I am a proud sikh and no one can judge me.

We all have different ways of expressing ourselves, we should know that the only person who can judge us is ourselves and slowly people need to start to realize that you become more happy about yourself when  you ignore what people think. No one can shape you to be what they want it is all up to us to determine what we want to be and how we want to live our lives. That was the idea represented to me in this photograph.