This photo is of my sister holding an unlit, handmade deepam (earthen oil lamp) that I created as a child. I utilized symmetrical balance with both her hands and opted for a darker photo to emphasize how this hasn’t been a typical, cheery holiday season for my family. I chose to take a photo of an unlit lamp instead of a lit one because my family did not celebrate any cultural holidays this year, like Diwali, after my grandmother sadly passed away. In my culture, we do not celebrate holidays or festivals for an entire year after the death of a family member, and we especially do not light any lamps during Diwali.