Self-portraiture is a subject McDaniel returns to with regularity, she gazes at the viewer in these paintings with a look of defiance. In all cases she is wearing a mask, masks adorned with jewellery suggestive of the ways in which Pasika subjects are often hidden from view as their islands are routinely appropriated for Western, colonial, and militarised practices rather than the need to protect marine life, land, and sacred hånom (water) which Oceanic peoples have stewarded for thousands of years. Her proximity to the land in the works is key as, being part of the diaspora, McDaniel physical distance from Guam means it is something she fantasises about and imagines, always being the anchor and safety for the subjects in her paintings.