"In our present day, it can be easy to conclude from the various crises taking place around the world, all the injustice and political unrest, the rampant poverty and environmental threats, persecution and killings, diseases and displacements, that art & beauty are mere luxury. It could even make some feel that to focus on art & beauty is insensitive or short sighted. However, I want to suggest that it's precisely because of these desperate situations that the artist is called upon to beautify the world with art and engage these issues from a vantage point of hope."