When I began this painting, the first thing that opened up before me was a great Earth.
Above it a single dragon appeared, and countless lights began to bloom in the sky like flowers.
At first I did not know myself what I was painting.
But as I went on, each light began to feel like one of the lives living here on Earth.
A small light.
A large light.
A light that shines quietly.
A light so strong it reaches far away.
Each one different, and each one blooming beautifully in its own place.
As those lights gathered, I had the sense that the whole Earth was growing a little brighter.
And then, as if watching over that Earth, a single dragon appeared.
The dragon did not feel like a ruler of anything. It felt like a being
that holds the world and watches over the flow of life.
On this Earth there are many countries, many cultures, many ways of thinking.
And yet, living together on the same Earth may mean
that we are held inside a far larger connection than we imagine.
While painting, a sentence rose in me: one person's light may be small,
but when those lights gather, the world begins to change.
I would be glad if this work became a reason to remember the small light inside you.
And may you trust your own light and bloom, in your own place,
as yourself — that is the wish I painted into it.
Here you will find a great Earth floating as if in space, a single dragon dancing above it,
and countless flowers of light blooming across the whole sky.
The Earth spreading at the centre stands for the world we live in.
Borders and seas and land are drawn, yet the whole of it is wrapped in a soft light —
less the physical planet than a single living being.
The dragon above it protects the Earth and guides the flow of life.
Its supple body opens wide as it dances through the sky,
as though watching over the whole world.
Around the dragon, lights of many colours open out like fireworks, like flowers.
Red, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink.
Each light holds its own colour, and each blooms in its own shape.
They seem to stand for the people and the living things of this Earth.
No two are the same.
There is no need to compare yourself with anyone.
Each holds its own colour and its own light.
And as those lights gather, the Earth becomes a more beautiful place.
This work holds a vast, planet-wide view,
and at the same time it carries a message to each person who sees it: you,
too, are one of the lights that illuminate this world.