One of my students, who wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, recently showed me this allegorical self-portrait. I found the work and the story behind it very touching and so asked her if I could share it.
Here's the explanation:

"There is a poinsettia plant that has seen better days. There are a few large healthy leaves left and the rest have all died off or been beaten off somehow. The plant is me. Sticking deep into the pot is a huge sharp knife. It represents the man who tried three times to kill me and who still wants to. Every two years he comes up for parole and I am scared out of my wits that he will get out of prison and come looking for me again. So the knife is a huge scary threat that I live with. Next to the knife is a shadow cast by a stem and small leaf. It is in the shape of a cross. It is laughably small in comparison to the knife because I don't see any help coming from religion. The fake butterfly's torn wing allows light to shine through creating a shadow face with an arm pointing to the knife emphasizing that the knife is a very real threat. The shadow is ghostly because nobody ever seems to notice what is happening. It all has an unreal quality. It's horrible but life goes on as if it isn't even happening. It's my pain and I suffer by myself. The baby dragon is a fantasy creature representing the desire to escape reality. It is sitting on a book that says 'diary' which gives the clue that all of this stuff represents a life. The dead bug and dead butterfly show that life is fragile and death is real. The shot glass with liquor is a way to escape reality but the liquor is spilled revealing rat turds that were in it. This is because alcohol can have an ugly side to it and sometimes you get more than you bargained for. There is a picture frame turned face down representing loved ones that were lost. There is an apple core behind it representing a life that feels worn out and used up. A bottle behind the core is one that health supplements are sold in. It is broken and is symbolic of broken health that comes from too many injuries and too much stress. In the top right of the picture is a shadow dipping into the picture. It is the shape of two huge fangs and the small leaf at the top of the plant appears at just the right spot to make it look like one of the fangs has a drop of blood hanging from it. It is hinting that something scary and ugly and dangerous is close at hand. Last of all, back to the potted plant, underneath the few remaining large leaves there are a lot of new little leaves just starting to grow. And that's because life does go on. Despite 'it' all, I am still trying grow as a person and make a new and better life. And that is the point of the picture. Never give up."