"Self Preservation" - Original Multimedia Painting

My thoughts on self-preservation.

It’s something that is deeply rooting in our core. The primal instinct to secure your own survival, driving us to protect ourselves, and make choices that prioritize your own wellbeing and comfort over others. This instinct can save your life.

Self-preservation allows us to rest. To seek comfort and to protect our bodies, our minds, and our feelings.

It also causes us to hide. It causes us to lash out, to fight, to runaway, to forget, to ignore and to look away.

It is okay to rest and take a breath. As with any physical hardship, we need rest to come back stronger than before. Right now in this world, there is such a need for the deepest empathy and action and such a need for self-preservation and rest.

I have hope. We are intelligent creatures living in the same wild space. For thousands of years, we have been bound together. We work together to survive. We share resources and knowledge, care and protection. We cannot let go of those instincts as they are an innate part of who we are.

Because we are bound together, we need to help one another succeed. That is the only way to true self-preservation.

“Self-Preservation”

24”x 18” (1.5” depth), canvas panel

Acrylic paint, paint pens, and ink

2024