The human experience is pregnant with a series of rebirths. Death and redemption reveals itself in various forms, in various stages. We are all phoenixes. We die a thousand deaths in one lifetime allowing us to leave our old selves behind. In that gap between the ashes and the regeneration-- there is healing. There is respite. There is a necessary shedding out of old, oppressive values and perceptions. There is liberation from and for the self. For an artist, that breathing space gives rise to a re-emergence of creativity-- be it in art or life itself.