Hope

While researching prayer flags I learned that different items, plants and animals have symbolic meanings in Buddhist culture. With the discovery of the lotus flower I discarded my previous idea involving pineapples, the symbol of hospitality that originated in the United States, and graduated into the Tibetan symbol of purity and spiritual unfoldment. The significance of the lotus comes from its stalks, which rise from muddy waters and blossom once above the surface. My print expresses simply, a person, weak and fallen, being lifted out of a cold, bleak place by a pure soul who has given a helping hand in a kind gesture of peace. The horizontal lines in the background reflect this peace and the lotus stalks spell 'Hope'. Unfortunately a lot of my lines were too thin and disappeared quickly under the thick ink. This was, for the most part, resolved in later prints but I prefer the look of the lines in this one even with the darker arm mistake.

~taylor b