The Self

I have been struggling with a lot this past month.

Life can be rough and rewarding at the same time.

The rough patch seems to be (finally) over.

And however difficult it has been for me, it made me search deep inside of me, and emerge stronger. And inspired.

I was drawn to the archetypes of how we perceive ourselves and the world around us, and engulfed in the imagery and symbols which depict these projections, in order to breathe life into a new collection of paintings.

Here is the first one:

The Self, acrylics on canvas, 16 x 12 in.

This latest work was inspired by the Jungian Archetype, and signifies the coherent whole, unified consciousness and unconscious of a person. The Self, according to Jung, is realised as the product of individuation, which in Jungian view is the process of integrating one's personality. For Jung, the self is symbolised by the circle (especially when divided in four quadrants), the square, or the mandala.

What distinguishes Jungian psychology is the idea that there are two centers of the personality. The ego is the center of consciousness, whereas the Self is the center of the total personality, which includes consciousness, the unconscious, and the ego. The Self is both the whole and the center. While the ego is a self-contained little circle off the center contained within the whole, the Self can be understood as the greater circle.^[1]

xoxo