Rising Up by Natasha Stover
Medium: Acrylic on cardstock
Size: 8.5″ X 11″
Artist statement: Freedom to me means rising above the cages that hold me, and the chains that bind me. Proving to the world that I am more than just a state number and my charges, like the woman depicted in my painting, breaking free of all the things that restrain her, rising from the ashes she has reduced to in the cage that held her. She transformed into a strong, beautiful, firefly phoenix. One day, when I gain my freedom back, this will be me.
Image description: A woman in bright, red, orange, outlined in yellow is rising with wings outstretched. She is rising above bars that stretch across the bottom of the painting. There is smoke rising. You can see handcuffs, broken in some flames.