Don't Be Scared

A subject in a painting whose eyes are closed has always interested me. It is almost as if they envision a different environment than the one they are in, yet they are fixed forever in the artist's vision. I finished this painting a week before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Since the leak came out in early May, I was terrified of what this unprecedented decision by SCOTUS -to strip the constitutional right for abortion care from the people- would mean for our country. A part of me still hung onto the hope that it wouldn't go through, that there was no way we would go back fifty years in women's rights and bodily autonomy. The graffiti "Don't be Scared" on the actual wall behind my model looks prescient in what continues to be a fight in many states for abortion rights, proper medical treatment, and safe procedures.