It seems as though each time I open up the news or look at social media, it is easy to be overwhelmed with grief, fear and worry. Especially during quarantine, when I am isolated from my family, my friends, my students and my colleagues, my heavy heart grows heavier.
The art on these walls represent the ways I have attempted to live with big waves of anxiety and sadness I experience. I started to think about my recurring fears and worries as independent from me. In drawings, paintings and artist books, I have personified emotions as animals, some recognizable, some not. They live with figures in flattened outdoor and domestic spaces filled with bright colors and bold lines.
Through this transformation, I wondered, can negative thoughts be looked at differently? Could I find laughter and curiosity in their presence even though initially they cause me discomfort? Can they be approached with tenderness and curiosity instead of shame and frustration? I want viewers to consider the ways they live with their anxieties and question whether these feelings can be transformed. Into acceptance, into understanding or into action.
I want to acknowledge that I am a white-functioning woman, exhibiting in Peninsula Park, in the historically Black, Piedmont neighborhood of Portland. Just a few months ago, Ahmaud Arbery was murdered in a park. Just a few days ago, Christian Cooper had his life threatened in Central Park. On Monday, George Floyd was murdered by the Minneapolis police. Out in public. By viewing this work and reading this statement, you are accessing a free art exhibition. The money that you might have spent to see a show in a museum or gallery, I encourage you, if you are able, to donate to one of these organizations that support the Black community and communities of Color:
- Urban League of Portland
- The Loveland Foundation
- ACLU Oregon
- Oregon Community Health Workers Association
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. -Rabbi Tarfon