During this time in doors it has become very much evident once again that drawing is the foundation for every side of my artistic voice to date. It started with drawing, it all comes from a mind and heart that intuitively channeled experience and vision through marking making since my time as a wee baby. Drawing is sort of my alpha and omega and I have had an opportunity again in quarantine to fully realize this again. The simple act of sharpening a pencil and letting my hand describe life both physical/tangible and more elusive and emotional is tied to the very core of how I process existence, and it is still the thing that quiets me deep inside and lets me wander around in that limitless space of creative meditation that is where real art making (for me) is found.
Kelly Wong, MD, Brown Emergency Medical Center, Providence, RI
Catherine Chung, RN, UC SD Health Hillcrest, San Diego, CA
Purpose has come into a new view as well. I sometimes go back and forth with my work from a sense of deep purpose to a sort of questioning, wandering feeling of purposelessness amidst the backdrop of arts place in evolving society. I sometimes fin myself lost in a moment of “who is it actually for?” or “what is this doing for people beyond myself beyond markets and galleries and the small percent of the population that cares about them?”, and boom, I am almost always immediately reminded that it isn’t up to me to know much of the time, and that the simple act of creating to honor life itself is purpose. That being said, once in a while a glaring sense of purpose comes in the window and kickstarts the creative engine. I was fortunate enough early on in the Shelter in Place to find the notion arise that drawing portraits of Frontline Health Care Workers was in fact one of the most powerful acts I can put out there right now, an act of support and solidarity, an act of gratitude and homage.
Giancarlo Barrale, Respiratory Technician, Palisades Medical Center, N. Bergen, NJ
From the inception of the this series I have found myself in touch with amazing people that are literally risking their lives to fight Covid 19 while people like myself do our best to stay at home, wash our hands, socially distance, wear masks, respect others space, and do what we can to really support one another in this new normal, and show our support in every way possible for these frontliners. The intent from the beginning was to draw these portraits with PPE to raise awareness for the need of PPE in the pandemic using the tag #getmeppe that I found through Kelly Wong MD. While my drawings have been of health care workers thus far, I also want to remind whoever is reading this that grocery store staff, cooks, servers, drug store workers, food deliverers, so many people are essential and also on the frontlines and we need to really show them as much compassion, support and love as possible.
Ruth Padron, RN, UC SD Health Hillcrest, San Diego, CA
Frontline Health Care Workers for sure have made a huge impact on me in this time. Seeing images of them showing up with no PPE, wear trash bags, covered in Covid fill air, working around the clock to help everyone that they can amidst this absolutely intense moment in history. The Health Care professionals I have had the opportunity to connect with and draw thus far span from Rhode Island to San Diego to Vermont to Brooklyn, NY. Respiratory technicians, MDs, RNs, all working tirelessly so that we might all stay as healthy as possible.
Nicole Gatjens, RN, UC SD Health Hillcrest, San Diego, CA
The question that is America right now is sickening on so many levels to me. As these workers fight for lives and are so up front and vocal about what they need from us so as to stem the tide of this ongoing issue, the arrogance of so many in their response to a simple plea for calm is painful to watch. These people, often underpaid and underprotected are heroes, warriors, centuries of health and community. In response I will continue to do this work to show these people that we do care about their effort and that they are honored.
Alesia Flamen, RN, King’s County Hospital, Brooklyn, NY
I have been working with am Organization called Get Us PPE that is going to be sharing my portraits with their community to raise awareness for the need for PPE in this pandemic and in the future. I also have been able to help the New York based group Feed Da Heroes with a couple portraits to help their food program get meals delivered to health care workers in NYC. We have to balance the ignorance we see so selfishly occurring around us with acts of solidarity, honesty, and support.
Whitney Smith, RN, Vermont
This series has given me peace on so many quiet afternoons and evenings that might have otherwise been filled with the anxieties of the unknown moment we are in. I found that with every mark and ever line, with ever experience of seeing these people come to life on the page, and then the comments and exchanges that have come from posting them and speaking with the Health Care Workers themselves a sort of calm and exuberance of positivity has arisen. These have open my mind back up to the possibility of drawing and the ability I find in it to explore every aspect of the life, past future and present. I have found a new relationship with my ability and also open minded sense of possibility as an artists. The box I had begun to wear that was becoming tighter and tighter in certain ways as the melee of consumerism and society pulled at me on a daily basis has given way to the realization again that community is vital, that we are all here together, and that following joy is often where the best work and direction are found. Not to say that everything in life should be joyful, as I feel that that is naive and just unrealistic, but finding things that bring us that calm sense of joy even as we feel anxiety and fear and sometimes sadness or anger is a guide that should never be overlooked. And thus I have been reminded that drawing for me is a lifeline, a certain joyful act that has never steered me into a direction that I didn’t find awakening and the forward motion of life in, and sometimes that leads me to find a sense of absolute peace as the world screams by.
Joe Pelliteri, Respiratory Therapist, Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY