Moon face is an oil painting by Chinese-born, Pittsburgh based artist Su Su. The painting belongs to Su Su’s series of Bombyx paintings, socalled for their relationship to the Bombyx moth, which makes silk. The paintings in this series are made by injecting streams of oil paint through the back of a silk substrate and allowing gravity to pull the streams of paint downward. The image is painted upside down and in reverse with the aid of a mirror. The cilia-like streams of hardened oil paint resemble the fine hairs on a Bombyx moth. The face in this painting is that of the artist. Su Su paints her own image into her paintings as a gesture of feminine power and generosity to the viewer, expressing how much more an artist has to give than just technique, materials, and subject matter. The title contains multiple layers of meaning. The three faces are shown in full, in half, and in quarter profile, illustrating the different phases of the moon. Moon face is also a common slur used to describe people with a rounded face. There is also a Moon Face emoji, which, when the eyes are directed to one side as in this painting can be used to signify secrecy, something shadowy, or even to communicate derision. The moon, of course, is not a source of illumination but is a reflector, something that is like a mirror giving back whatever light or shade is thrown at it. The deep texture of the oil paint on this Bombyx painting reacts the same way, absorbing and reflecting light to various degrees depending on the depth of the paint follicles. Su Su’s practice is guided by the complicated and confusing experiences she has had as an immigrant to the United States. The multilayered subtext of her paintings suggests that nothing about her experience is what it appears to be on the surface.