What is culture?
In efforts to truly understand culture, I had to come to terms with a truth: culture does not always look the same; culture is not uniform. For example, my collages varied from colonial-style white American/European culture, to the Arab world of the Middle East, finally reaching South Asia--India. In Monkey Man I tried to portray a stereotypical wealth and high status of white people in, mostly, the United States. On the contrary, in Isolated Pain I wanted to bring the feeling of the Middle East region and simultaneously the emotion of the little Muslim girl--furthering the idea of the Arab world being poorly looked upon by the West. Finally, I reached into my own roots--Bengali culture. Specifically, I portrayed a Hindu Goddess Maa Durga. In conclusion, culture is a mélange of emotions, wealth, clothing, music, and stories but how we view it often results from stereotypes in our lives.