Faces of the Frontline

I have spent the last few months concentrating on painting and home. I only just remember to post once a month here on the blog and every couple of days on Instagram. So imagine my surprise when I got a message on Instagram asking me if I would be ok with sharing some of my recent work on a website and other social media handles dedicated to Front line workers. The site is www.facesofthefrontline.org

The work in question is something that started with a chance sighting again on Instagram of a friend’s picture. It just said so much to me in that one image. So I decided to paint the grit, resilience, the compassion, the rebellion, the peace of faces behind masks.

And what sealed the deal for me agreeing to share my work?
This write up on the mission statement of the organization –

“To the first-responders, the hospital custodians, the surgical residents doing intubations and IV lines; to the respiratory therapists, the physician assistants, the mailpeople delivering our rambling letters;

to the hospital security guards, the x-ray techs, the PharmDs, the phlebotomists, the grocery store cashiers, the gig economy meal-delivery drivers wearing cloth masks and latex gloves;
to the nurses like angels hovering above the beds of those who with labored breath fight this new and strange disease;
to the doctors who trained all their lives for this moment but never anticipated it would really come;

We say thank you.
You have taken courage.
We’ve set the table and tried our best to spruce things up.
So we can hold your stories.

Send us writing and art and videos describing what you’ve seen (you are our eyes and ears, you know).
Let us build a monument to this moment, a time capsule for the tears and the gritty joy.”

And all the ‘Mask’ series paintings depicting these Covid times are going to Pay it Forward.

Each painting is for sale at a minimum of INR 3500/-. Contact me via DM if interested. I will donate 100% of the money. In fact I don’t want the money to hit my account at all. You donate to a cause close to your heart to a minimum of 3500/- or more. Show me proof of donation; send me your full ‘ship to’ address with a valid phone number. I send you shipping amount as actuals. You pay that and I ship the piece to you anywhere in the world.
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You get a painting to remember these unprecedented times while knowing you helped someone in need. I get to paint in these troubled times and also contribute in a way. It’s a win-win situation. You also get to keep an artist doing what she loves – Paint/Create.
(It must be a donation as of today’s date or after.)
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I have to say that our lives have truly changed, little did I ever think that 2020 would put us all in masks. Our changed reality is the new normal.

I’d love to do a few more like this. With masks. Front line workers or not. If you have a good picture that you would like me to paint… send it in via DM. If I like it and am going to attempt painting it – I will likely ask you for a high res version to be sent to me via email.