Straw (pink) belongs to a still life series that includes Take Away and Honey (both 2024), rooted in Anum’s art school years when she pivoted from figure painting to focus on everyday objects. This shift led to a thoughtful study of forms like drinking glasses and takeaway containers—items often overlooked yet rich in texture and cultural resonance. The pink plastic container in Straw reappears in other works such as MVP, while Honey draws from Anum’s personal collection of vintage Chinese glasses, weaving personal history into formal exploration.

Straw (pink) subverts the classical still life tradition by replacing symbols of natural perishability—like food or flowers—with a disposable plastic takeaway cup, an emblem of synthetic permanence. This shift challenges the genre’s historical celebration of materiality and mortality, instead prompting reflection on modern consumption, waste, and ecological impact. Through meticulous rendering, Anum elevates a mundane, mass-produced object, inviting viewers to reconsider notions of value and beauty in the everyday. The work subtly critiques contemporary culture’s relationship with disposability, suggesting that even our throwaway items carry layered meanings about permanence, care, and the traces we leave behind.