The Anxious Journey is part of a series of oil paintings by Chinese-born, Pittsburgh based artist Su Su depicting women on horseback. These paintings reference Equestrienne, a sculpture in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, which dates to the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618–907), and depicts a female horse rider with a relaxed posture, her hands in front of her as if holding the reins. In this painting, Su Su shows us three women riding together on a journey through the night. The central figure holds a jade-colored protractor in her hand. The shape of the protractor evokes the common portrayal of a woman holding a fan, subverting notions of women as faint, replacing that thought with an image of a strong, confident, relaxed woman with a scientific, introspective mind. Su Su perceives the woman in the Equestrienne sculpture as calm, confident, and unpolished in her appearance, a starkly different iconography from many contemporary portrayals of femininity. “There is nothing saying this is an Instagram-ready picture,” Su Su says. “She’s in a dream life by herself. It touches me a lot when I look at it. There was a time period in history when women lived a life holding their own space, and artists admired that. Instead of making sculptures with fit, perfect ladies holding yoga mats, they made sculptures of ladies on horseback having their moments.” Su Su painted these three women looking down from the viewpoint of someone small looking up. “The sculptures are small,” Su Su says, "but the idea is big, so I made the women big in the paintings.” As a female artist raised in one country and relocated to another, Su Su makes paintings that reflect how she sees herself. “There is a feminist voice behind all of these works,” she says. “I want to highlight female power, and female power in art and culture. I think all of the paintings tell some story of that.”