In 2020 I was working on my Master's degree. During this time, Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests began to take center stage on the news along with Covid-19 headlines. Shortly after, I noticed many social media posts had black boxes posted on individual profiles. The black box was supposed to show support and solidarity for BLM.

I was pregnant at the time and didn't want to go protest while Covid was spreading (before the vaccine). I felt deeply for the black community. As a white woman, I thought, what more can I do to show my support other than posting a black box on my social media. And then, I thought what would I tell my students to do? I would say, "make art about it." So that's exactly what I did. I painted these individuals who had lost their lives mainly due to racism.  The portrait is more refined while the clothing is painted unfinished, as gestural. This gestural line work represents their unfinished lives. 

My collection is not intended to be political but simply to study their faces through art and bring them back to life, if only through paint.