No Woman, No Cry by Chris Ofili

This painting is called No Woman, No Cry. The artist is Chris Ofili. As I looked into this painting i found out that it was a tribute to a teenager that was murdered for her race. But when I first saw this I had a more general idea. I thought, and still think that Ofili was trying to show how complicated her life is. That on the outside she is alright because that is all she will let you see, but on the inside, if you look just a little closer, you will see that she is not okay. This painting really shows that well because there are so many contrasting elements. Even after I read what the inspiration was, I still think this. Maybe not about her life though, but someone else who may be experiencing the same thing but mayeb not such a higher scale. Like being bullied for her race-she doesn't show how she is feeling or what is happening, but on the inside, she feels torn apart and is extremely upset.

The first things I noticed when I looked at this painting wer: she is crying, her eyelid is bright blue, she is looking away, she is African-American, the background is complex, yet simple, she is colorful, her outfit seams happy, but she seems sad, here is yellow behind her, there are different types of dots and patterns in the background, she is wearing a necklace. And all of these things were done on purpose. I think she is crying because of the pain inflicted upon her. I think her eyes are blue because it is a vibrant color and it is contrasting with sadness symbolizing her complicated life. She is looking away because she doesn't want anyone to know. I didn't know until I read why she was African-American, but before I read it I just figured she was crying for some type of injustice she experienced because of her race. The background is complex, yet simple because when you just take a glance it looks simple, but when you look closer it is complex and that represents her life. The color and happiness are just what she shows to the world. All of these things make up her and they exemplify her life.

I think this painting can represent anyone. Everyone is hiding something. I think something that you can learn from this is that you should never take a glance at someone and judge them. If you glanced at this painting you see bright and simple, but when you look closer it is complicated, deep, confusing, and worth thinking about. If the person who murdered this girls would have looked closer, she would still be alive.