We are one…We are all the same

Artist: Deborah Lang

Medium: Spray paint and Acrylic paint on wood panels, ready to hang

Canvas Size: 106cm (W) x 106cm (H) x 3.5cm (D) 

Framed: No

This was my 2024 Archibald Entry…A Self Portrait…

This painting has been painstakingly hand made from scratch by myself out of plywood and timber moulding.  I designed it so the 15 panels interlock and can slide around like a slide puzzle.I purposely removed my eye and hair colour, so the skin colours would shine. 

I saw a meme that flashed up on my Instagram feed of three labradors one yellow, one chocolate brown and one black, captioned “When you find something you like so you get it in every colour…” I had seen this before with your favourite top but it was different to see it with animals. 

I thought to myself how cute, then thought how funny and then how sad that it wouldn't be the same if it was a picture of three humans with different skin colours… and that thought was the catalyst for this piece.

I had a beautiful conversation with my 10-year-old daughter about race and skin colour after she came home from school saying one of the boys in her class was teasing another boy from India, saying his skin was the colour of the spots on the banana and laughing. It made her feel sad, and she wanted to stand up for him. She came into my studio one day, when I had the panels all laid out and she started pointing to the darker tones, saying how beautiful I was. And then to the peach and pink shades… it made me happy. She just saw me regardless of my skin colour maybe if we can teach our children to look at skin colour through loving eyes we’d see a change.  

Signed on the front ‘Debstar’ my street name :) and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity