My painting, Overwhelmed, that records my reaction to the central pillars of the huge Buddhist shrine in Thimpu, Bhutan, is featured on a banner here in town. Every year, the city of New Bern offers businesses, organizations, and individuals to put up a banner on the lamp posts that line Broad Street. They go up around Memorial Day and stay up until they are replaced with banners announcing Mum Fest, in October.
This year the Interfaith Refugee Ministry chose Overwhelmed for their banner, which kind of surprised me. Well, just look at the depictions of Buddha and the bodhisattvas, and remember North Carolina is the state that caused such a ruckus with laws regarding gender identity and restroom use.
The central face represents Buddha. I think it’s very cool that they chose this—very open-minded!
And here’s the banner,
I think the printer did a marvelous job reproducing it, all things considered. And here’s me, standing beneath it.
I think it’s kind of cool that it’s actually been placed on the corner where Broad meets the street I live on!