Indian culture dates back centuries and has rigid requirements for all women to uphold: the duty of the home and the husband. Arranged marriages are one aspect of such traditions where a woman is given to a family, generally without choice, and is sent to raise children and keep her new husband content for the rest of her life. In my artwork, I use collage, paint, and colored pencils to depict the overwhelming emotions involved in arranged marriages and the overall female experiences in Indian culture. I strive to explore who has a hand in a woman’s freedom in such culture and how she must feel in such situations. Throughout my series, I researched Indian marriage traditions with certain symbolism that indicate a rite of passage for a woman. My pieces represent my shifting emotions and thoughts on the subject as my ideas develop and become more complex in my head. The role of the woman, the marriage, as well as the loss of freedom all play a role in my artwork as they directly influence how the figure’s body or hands are shown in each work. Overall, my Sustained Investigation is a way for me to explore the changes and shifts in emotion before and after marriage, and depict a woman’s experiences with traditional indian culture. My own parents had an arranged marriage, and I strive to represent many of the emotions and situations I have witnessed in my life.