In Self-Portrait Jan Wade renders her own likeness in an abstracted style using her signature thick, black lines, bold colours, and motifs such as an inverted horseshoe, teardrops, and the all-seeing eye. The representation of the artist’s face from multiple perspectives recalls Cubism and the work of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), which appropriated the appearance of African masks and sculptures, but it is also suggestive of movement and personal transformation. Says Wade, “I believe…transformation is the essential element in any form of creativity or making…from the time we lived in caves we have been exploring the transformation of the spiritual…intellectual and physical…it is how we move forward…and go inward…African American art forms are transformation personified.”