Praying hands is an oil painting by Chinese-American artist Su Su. This work embodies many of the central themes present in Su Su’s work. The praying hands are a reference to the famous painting of the same name by German Renaissance painter Albrecht Dürer. The Dürer painting is also called Study of the Hands of an Apostle, an apt description of this particular work, as Su Su has expressed her respect for the fact that Dürer was known to paint his own body and face into his works. Su Su follows in this tradition, expressing her belief that artists have much more than their subject matter to offer audiences. In this painting, Su Su portrays herself with jade green skin, a color with many feminine symbolic meanings in Chinese culture. By blending her self-image with references from Chinese art history, Su Su’s works speak to the complicated and confusing experiences she has had as an artist immigrating to the United States. Her choice to paint herself in the nude similarly speaks to her choice to take agency over her femininity and sexuality. “There is something about me sexualizing myself as an Asian woman, in my way, rather than letting others sexualize me as an Asian woman,” Su Su says. “I want to highlight female power and female power in art and culture.”