I’ve been thinking a lot about how to approach art when the world seems to be burning down around us. It’s been interesting to see other people’s responses: Instagram has been awash in paintings of sunflowers and posts about donating money from sales to Ukraine. A few people have stopped posting art altogether and only share items from the headlines. Some people have kept posting as if nothing has happened at all. I don’t really know what to do.

Similar to during the pandemic, I feel guilty for living in safety and comfort while so many millions of others are suffering. I also have moments when shame, my go-to default emotion, drowns out whatever positive feelings I may have and tells me art is selfish and I should go do something that more tangibly helps others.

Yet also similar to during the pandemic, I realize that painting helps keep me unblocked. In hindsight, I can see the correlation between the low points in my life and the times I put away painting and replaced it with other things, like work or relationships. So in that sense, unless I want to shell out thousands I don’t have for therapy or treatment, I better keep painting to maintain my mental health!

A few years ago, I made a vision board, not because I believe the universe exists to manifest shabby-chic boho accessories for my bedroom (I'm still waititing...!), but because I thought it would be nice to be visually reminded of the things that are important to me. One of the quotes I put up there has been unexpectedly meaningful: “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it …” (Attributed to Gandhi, although for the life of me, I cannot find a source more reliable than Goodreads quotes and inspirational blog posts. My inner fact-checker is very agitated.)

So much of what I’ve done these past few years has felt insignificant, yet for some inexplicable reason, I feel it’s imperative I do it. Now, it feels even more important, to make beauty, or at least something interesting, and put it out into the ether. And I'd like to think that, as Buddhists believe, any merit I may generate through my effort can be sent to relieve all beings from suffering. 

I’ll end with a quote I found more recently that is helpful (and has documented attribution!): In The Fifth Book of Peace, Maxine Hong Kingston writes, “In a time of destruction, create something. A poem. A parade. A community. A school. A vow. A moral principle. One peaceful moment.”