Since mental wellness is a subjective experience, what we associate with a flourishing state of being is also deeply personal. I tried to portray this inherent diversity in subjective experience through diversity in the identities and facial expressions of the models, as well as through the choice of visual elements.

I believe that the natural world doesn’t mirror our soul or emotions, but it is rather an embodied expression of the soul and emotionality. To express our aliveness, we use metaphors of the living world that embody that same aliveness. To flourish is to experience oneself as fully alive and unfolding, like a patch of blooming flowers in spring or a fluttering butterfly in a sunlit meadow. In the same way, the transformation that takes place in a healing process can be visualized as a seedling emerging from the dark soil of our interiority. We have the innate need and desire to grow towards the sun; to move to a richer human experience. And like a tree, to expand outwards; to develop our unique potential. Put simply, to become who we are capable of becoming.

To truly be alive, we must tend to our wellbeing the way we would tend to a garden: take out weeds, prune parts that no longer serve the whole, and direct our love and attention to those aspects of ourselves we wish to grow and develop. Wellbeing like gardening, however, is a communal effort, and we must recognize that health and wellbeing are co-created. They are systemic qualities that emerge through togetherness and compassion. And while sometimes the invisible structures of our society run deep underground, they exert a powerful influence on our ability to thrive — often unequally.

Lastly, reflecting Masawa’s value of “interconnection”. By relating human wellbeing to planetary health, I tried to tell a different story; one that recognises mankind’s intricate interconnection with the more-than-human world and the interdependency that exists between all species. In this sense, to pursue human flourishing simultaneously entails the pursuit of planetary health, for our thriving depends on the thriving of the larger ecosystems in which we are active participants. Our ability to flourish and to feel alive inter-depends on the aliveness of the world at the outer edges of our skin.

I worked with a combination of cold purples and pinks, which work calming on the mind and are associated with meditation and relaxation, and warmer natural colours, which create an atmosphere of warmth and honest optimism. I used butterflies associated with metamorphosis and transformation, and plants and other vegetal elements to symbolise flourishing, growth, and abundance. The circle in the background brings coherence and refers to the cyclical nature of time and healing.