I painted this tiger the other day for no particular reason other than I had this image in my mind of a tiger staring at me, and after pulling together a few image references, I decided to draw it.
The more I began working on this piece the more I felt like I was learning from something from this tiger. Tigers are known to be strong and powerful and this idea of a tiger making fierce eye contact represents that for me.
I often deal with not feeling like I’m strong enough. As an autistic person, something as simple as making eye contact actually takes a lot of strength.
While I know that tigers are physically much, much stronger than I will ever be, there’s something about the tiger’s strength in a moment of stillness that reminds me: there is no one way to be strong. Even for the strongest among us, something as simple as making eye contact or sitting still is a symbol of strength.
May we never forget our strength.
May we never forget strength comes
in many shapes.
- MHN
