Nasser Azam immigrated to England from Pakistan with his family as a child in 1970. This watercolour is one of several early portraits centred on his family, that he completed during the early 1980s. The painting depicts his newly-born young cousin, wrapped in a white blanket, being cradled in his mother's arms. The mother's face is omitted, concentrating the focus on the upturned face of the baby and the mother's gentle, nurturing gesture. This gesture is also reminiscent of so-called ‘Hidden Mother photography’, common in the Victorian era, when babies and young children were often photographed with their mother present but hidden in the photograph, in order to keep the children still owing to the long exposure period of early cameras.