The Promise
2007
11 in. x 15.5 in.
Oil and egg tempera on panel

Available

I do not relate to our society’s choices either to preserve deceased bodies with chemicals, or reduce them to cinders, in either case as if to minimize their re-entry to the great cycle of life. I find great comfort in the fact that my body is composed out of atoms that have been recycled through many living things, and what assuages my fears of death the most, is this idea that those same atoms will become other living things in the future. What a beautiful gift! I see this as the promise which makes death bearable. Indeed, this chain is not even limited to living organisms, as the same atoms that make up the earth are recycled from once-burning stars. Perhaps our atoms will shine again as stars one day, but what a privilege indeed, to exist as a living being in the meantime.