"Restoration," Archival Print

"Restoration" was originally commissioned by YWCA Madison and the featured artwork for their Women of Distinction event 2021. 

To restore is to return what is lost or destroyed to a healthy state.

In nature, fire is necessary to catalyze change. Fire burns away trees and brush that have become too dominant, renews the soil, and makes room for new growth to reclaim the land. 

Similarly, societal restoration requires more than incremental change.

Hold fire back, and it only grows into a stronger and more destructive force.

The coronavirus pandemic has been a global-scale experience of climate change, where natural and human-made catastrophe collide. Crises can be frightening, and also an opportunity for correction. Will this be crisis turned revolution be enough to change us and sow the seeds of renaissance?

Three femmes of color are the faces of 2021. Female leadership also alludes to the world before westernization. Before colonialism, the most powerful gods across cultures were often women. From Nüwa the Chinese sculptor goddess to the Spider Woman of Hopi, ‎Diné, and other Indigenous oral histories, these goddesses were credited with creating the world and the first people. If restoration is about giving back what was lost or destroyed, then the restoration of femme power is integral to restoring of the Earth.

Artwork description: The artwork portrays three femmes of color who are Indigenous-Latinx, Black, and Asian, wearing face masks that transform into a restored prairie landscape emerging from fire.

Open Edition, Giclee Print
Giclee Print. Prints are richly colored, archival, and will last a long time in good care.

8" x 10" and 12" x 16"