I came to America, as a refugee, not speaking English. A small child, I remember feeling an outsider. Growing up, those moments instilled a sensitivity to others - an awareness and knowledge that not everyone fits into the same group, some are excluded, or even persecuted – in the larger society, or within smaller, more intimate groups.

In early June of this year – after the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd; I began a series of watercolor portraits of the men, women and children who have died at the hands of law enforcement or “blind justice.” Using a small, handmade sketch book that I’d been saving – (a gift from the architect/urban planner who designed Battery Park City, Brian Shea) I thought this is where I will paint these portraits.

​

Out of the hundreds who have died, I painted 63.

As I completed the pages of that first book, Congressman John Lewis and CT Vivian (who had worked with Martin Luther King) died on the same day. I did portraits of them and began painting the first group again – in a different book - titling the group “heroes and martyrs”.

I reread the news articles, and with each portrait, included their age, where they died, when they died (and if I could locate it) when they were born. Each one is heartbreaking.