Skip to Content
This painting is a personal painting describing my life and how myself and others view it. It was difficult to bring a blur image in my mind to reality, but it worked through lots of trials and happy accidents. It is comprised of a girl in an afro (advocating black gurl magic) showing her back wearing an icy shade of blue dress made of yarn which is a representation of myself when people refer to me as the Ice Queen from Frozen almost every time, I introduce myself, as I am also Elsa. She’s painting with two hands, just like me. On the left is an image of giraffes, acacia trees and mt. Kenya in the distant signifying my life when I lived in Kenya. On the left image is the UMMA, which centers me on my life and goals here at the University ever since I moved to Ann Arbor. Her head is facing a golden moon, which is important to me because it’s a connection I share with my dad. Almost every full moon he steps outside and howls at the moon, and I picked that up too. Behind the two paintings on the easels is the universe full of tiny white stars (one of my favorite sceneries to view) which gives the painting a calm and relaxing effect as well as highlights the contrasting colors. It is connected to the ground where there is another girl dressing in black sweatpants and a grey hoodie painting on a small easel. She is sited under the dress of the other girl and her face can be seen. She has an afro as well, but she is me in the future still juggling academics, art, and work. There are paints and brushes on the right side of the ground and two books on the right side. The book on top says ‘Trust the Process’ which is a phrase that my dad tells me when things get tough because that’s all I can do for I can’t go back to my past or foretell what’s in my future, but only embrace the journey as I walk through it.

Trust the Process

Elsa Olander

Acrylic on canvas, Spackling paste, glue, yarn, and white and black ink pens

Undergraduate
Change, which has provided many opportunities for growth, is the best way to describe how my life has unfolded from a year ago until now. Before I moved to Ann Arbor, I lived in Kenya, in a town surrounded by wildlife and nature which is captured in the interior painting on the left featuring Mt. Kenya in the background. The painting on the right is the UMMA, which centers me on my life and goals here at the University. The girl in an afro (advocating black girl magic) dressed in the icy shade of blue dress is a representation of myself when people refer to me as the Ice Queen from Frozen almost every time, I introduce myself, as I am also Elsa. The girl below her does represent me, but me in the future still juggling academics, art, and work. The book says “Trust the Process,” a phrase that my dad tells me when things get tough because I am a long way from home and mostly alone. That's the least I can do, for I can’t go back to my past or foretell what’s in my future, but only embrace the journey as I walk through it.