Since the election there has been such a flux of emotion among people. For many, there is fear and utter shock that transcends normal politics. Regardless of party or one’s ideology, I’m especially concerned for people of color, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ community,and Muslims. We must not normalize bigotry and hatred.
In the art community on Instagram a movement has started to help heal the turmoil. It’s called #artistsforlove. It was started by a few artists, and I found out about it through Portland artist Kelly Rae Roberts. She wrote a post about it and shared several paintings created by several artists and a quote by Toni Morrison, which I will also share here:
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no place for despair, no time for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. This is how civilizations heal.”
I was moved to participate. I’m not a writer per-se, visuals are more my language. I started with the commonly thought of icon of love – a heart shape. I drew several without thinking about them. Just let them evolve on their own.
A phrase that many of the #artistsforlove creators were using was ‘We stand with you’. As I drew, the words ‘you are not alone’ and ‘all people’ came to mind, then paper.
The embellishments around the hearts became the people standing together in love, as you can see in this detail – which also became its own stand-alone piece.
I continued with the other heart shapes and different watercolor textures I had painted and brought them together in the pattern shown at the top.
There is much healing to be done. May we all have the strength to move forward with a little more love.
Many thanks to the artists who brought this movement together:
Orly Avineri web / Instagram
Flora Bowley web / Instagram
Alisa Burke web / Instagram
Alena Hennessy web / Instagram
Pixie Lighthorse web / Instagram
Lynzee Lynz web / Instagram
Jennifer Mercede web / Instagram
Simone Star web / Instagram
