Becoming

This work represents the final stage of The Artist's Path — becoming.
For the first time in the series, the heroine has my face.
The women in the previous paintings were never physically similar to me. They existed as different
forms of my inner self — states, emotions and stages of transformation.
Here, I finally reveal the secret. This story has always been about me.
The swan becomes a symbol of transformation. A creature whose beauty and grace are not
immediately visible, but gradually emerge through the process of becoming.
I hold the swan in my arms, yet symbolically, I am holding myself — the person I have become.
The garden is still present. The flowers, colours and imaginary nature that once existed only within the
closed world of meditation have not disappeared.
But my eyes are now open. I am no longer escaping into an inner world. I have brought that world
back with me.
What once existed only inside my imagination has become part of my reality.
The gaze is direct. Conscious. Present. The inner world and the external world are no longer separate.
I hold my new self in my arms.
And for the first time, I allow the viewer to see me.