MY BIRD ENZA - 2021 (SOLD)

Materials: Paper, tea dyed onion skin, vintage newspaper, vellum, chalk marker, acrylic paint, charcoal pencil

Size: 9”x12”

For me, one of the most shocking visuals of COVID is seeing little children in their parents arms wearing masks. Reading about the 1918 epidemic I realized this was not unprecedented so I created a visual dialogue between children of 2020 and 1918. I used both antique, contemporary images, drawing.

I found this vintage photo of masked children in my research and was intrigued-all in warm dark coats except for the one child wearing only a sweater. Where the others also appear to be white, she is dark. Opposites visually and no doubt socioeconomically, I added elements reinforcing her as the focal point. I brought them into contemporary times by adding print masks in patterns from microscopic cell photos.

I happened to find a rhyme called “My Bird Enza” they sang during play so I incorporated that into my composition. I was inspired by the simplicity of children’s art, so there’s a sun in the sky, only it’s not really shining over the paper-doll like children-it’s a Covid sun. Today’s children are arranged in a surreal landscape, in a grid like the way they’re experiencing their education via zoom, little masked faces in boxes. In the sky are pandemic related words, unfamiliar vocabulary that children may not understand-just noise. There are many flying Enzas too. One sits on the main child's head-was she a victim? Or was she one of the many who did survive, grew up, had a family and her great great grandchildren are now going through the same thing?