“The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” - Nelson Henderson.
I believe a resilient community is a community whose thoughts extend beyond the present and rests in the future which they won’t be there to experience. A resilient community gifts its knowledge and grounds itself in the acceptance of impermanence.
When sketching my first ideas for this project, I found myself being too literal with the prompt. I was attempting to depict what a resilient community would look like by showing off all the latest developments in technology over the past 100 years. I wanted to show the whole world just exactly what our beautiful community could look like down to every religion, skin tone, and identity. It wasn’t until the final days leading to the deadline that I realized how close-minded it would be of me to try and show the world MY perfect thriving community. When each of us closes our eyes and considers our perfect resilient community, we will have completely different foundations each derived from our own unique life experiences. Any attempt to make sure everyone was included would ultimately lead to something or someone being excluded. My solution was to create a mural that didn't rely on the depiction of salvation. Instead, I focused on its essence.