Imma Thrive Anyway

2024 | 24x48” | Acrylic on Canvas

It was the day after the 2024 election. The results came in, and I texted with friends commiserating over how we all felt hopeless on the frontier of the four years ahead of us. Feeling restless and afraid, I turned to my easel. I had been working on a mandala like design and finally came to realize, it wasn’t working for me. It was beautiful, but felt empty – like something I was creating to appeal to a buyer. I covered up what I had started, and began again. 

I didn’t use a reference photo for this piece. The figure that revealed herself to me showed only one emotion; defiance. We’ve been through this before. I’m all out of despair. I’m tired. For me personally, I have found that my greatest act of resistance is to thrive in spite of it all. Now, I admit that this comes with a certain level of privilege. I am able bodied, healthy, not currently in danger of being unhoused or facing food insecurity. But I am a marginalized person who has struggled to make it in this world for my entire life. If I can lean into joy, pour my heart into art that moves, that is my resistance. I am rich in community, purpose, and love. That isn’t something that can be taken from me, no matter how dystopian things get.