Rise with the Past

Commissioned artwork- the concept developed from the idea that this person had kind of been trapped in their own past for a long time, but now was finally breaking free. Still, that past will always be a part of them and the struggle they endured will always be a part of the person they have grown into.
With these ideas in mind, I decided to use the image of the phoenix, which has always been a powerful representation of rebirth. The "prison" they were trapped in for so long is crumbling, and represents the ashes from which the phoenix is rising, but not without a struggle, as parts of the rubble, which also signifies their heart, have actually intertwined themselves and literally become part of the bird...