He exaggerates the natural unevenness of skin tone and the prominence of facial features using dramatic colors and heavy outlines. Traditional techniques of modeling , the use of light and shadow to suggest form, have been replaced by a less subtle approach. The green paint signifies the indentations along the left side of the nose and around the left eye. The variegated colors that make up her face are repeated in the complex pattern of interwoven color that represents her hair. In this work, identity is literally a mosaic of color.
Colors are exaggerated and shapes are simplified.
This non-representational style is called abstraction . In contrast, the girl seems engaged and animated with a flash in her eyes and a small, tight red smile. The girl's arms are sketchily rendered, yet she embraces her doll with protective pride. The doll echoes the girl's frontal presentation, held close to her as if for protection. She clings to the doll fiercely, for nothing is more important to her at this moment.