Bodhisattva

If you do not know what the word bodhisattva means, let me explain. A bodhisattva is a living being who strives for enlightenment and practises altruism. Having reached the highest stage of awakening, bodhisattvas take on the mission of awakening the consciousness of others, while buddhas are the teachers who can lead them out of the wheel of samsara.

I do not aspire to immerse myself in religion or Buddhism, but I took as the basis of this picture the idea of a being who, ignoring the obstacles of the material world, strives for spiritual knowledge of its own essence. I wanted to paint it in dark colours, which is unusual for the depiction of saints, and so bring the holy image closer to an ordinary person, without rainbow colours and bright backgrounds. In my view most people are spiritual and pass through many earthly trials; you could say that people are bodhisattvas.