The truth of our shadow -by @mariandavp

How difficult is it for you to really express yourself to others?

...to really open up, about how you feel at a certain moment, why you feel that way? Can you do it without the fear of being exposed to judgement? Would it lead to confrontation? Would it put you to a weak spot?

Quoting a line from Jerry Maguire we live in a competitive world . To add something to that; we live in a world full of insecurities. We want -and we need, to learn how to fly in order to survive, but at the same time our wings get chopped off as soon as we learn how to speak.

Even the most brilliant people in the world could be and are muted in modern society, if they don't know the right people, the trend makers of what is right and what is wrong, what is expected and what is unacceptable, what is politically correct and what is not. I am not going to go into the social mechanics that give prominence to those regulators, because that's not the purpose of this post.

What I really want to point out is how important it is for our future that forms of expression like art to come from within us. To remain honest, free of the fear of judgement, free of trends and fashions or short lived aesthetics.

Sad fact is that once an artist decides to go down this road, most likely he won't be able to survive from resources coming from his own art. But if his/her art were to be loved and appreciated, that would mean that he/she is loved and appreciated.

Art remains one of the few paths of expression of our true self and maybe the only non violent revolutionary act against mass control.

I created this painting by drawing the outline of my shadow and then I went on to paint what was in my heart at the time. Although, it doesn't really matter what my aspirations at the time were.

The truth always hides within our shadow. The dark reflection of the space we take by simply existing, and doesn't differ dramatically from our friends', neighbors', or anyone else's. No one ever judges a shadow, right?