I am an immigrant from the Oromia region of Ethiopia. I left there to come to the U.S.A. on October 27, 2016. The painting I made is a portrait of a wedding tradition in Oromia. It shows the traditional clothes worn for a wedding. My mother got married in a ceremony like this thirty years ago. In the painting you can see many people on horses for a wedding ceremony. The bride and bridegroom are in yellow. The bridegroom’s friends are in blue. In the picture you can see the horses carrying the bride from her house to bring her to the groom’s house. The horse has decorations around its neck, head and face. People made the decorations for the horse for the wedding. This painting is important to me because my mom got married like this. It also describes my culture and how Oromo people got married a long time ago. Today’s generation doesn’t use this as much, but some people still get married in this way. 

– LEAP High School student

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant