Happy Place features an elderly Mozambican woman that Leanna encountered during her time in Africa. It was often hard to elicit smiles from the Mwinika people, who were unaccustomed with having their photo taken and were often shy - but this particular woman absolutely beamed at the opportunity to have her likeness preserved in photographic form. As Leanna sketched out this woman’s face and her many wrinkles, it struck her just how many of those wrinkles were in fact smile lines. Life for the Mwinika people - especially the women - is incredibly hard and laborious. Every day they work hard to feed and care for their families, to harvest their crops, to collect water from the well. But in spite of what most would consider a very challenging existence, it was evident that this particular woman had spent much of her life with a grin on her face. Happy Place is entirely charcoal. Leanna is a custom framer and cut and built the frame for this piece as well.