I had the idea for “I choose my scars” a few years ago, when I also painted a version in acrylic. I wasn’t completely pleased with it though, so I decided to give it another go. For me this is an absolutely self-empowering piece in which every single scar, be it a wrinkle, a scratch, or a tattoo, has a special meaning and purpose. The symbolism of this painting, as a whole, is pretty much the same as the symbolism of one of my all-time favorite poems – W.E. Henley’s “Invictus”:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.