100 Days of COVID-19, Day 75

My Art in the Time of a Pandemic

All I Have

Handmade book All I Have by Suzanne Coley
Photo credit: National Museum of Women in the Arts

All I Have is part of a larger year-long book arts project inspired by African textiles I received from the National Museum of African Art Library.  While working on this project, there were numerous news reports about thousands of migrants traveling in unsafe, overcrowded rickety boats in the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.  Strong winds and bad weather conditions could easily capsize these boats, drowning everyone on board.  

In the last 5 years, nearly 16,000 migrants have drowned while crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa in hopes of a better life in Europe.  One survivor of these death voyages described the ordeal as, "it was our only hope."  I imagined her story and gave voice to a mother's painful mourning of the loss of her son while crossing the Mediterranean in All I Have.

*Coronavirus Disease 2019:
Update in Maryland- 6/13/2020

61,305 confirmed cases 

2,926 deaths   4,536 recovered

Update in New York State - 6/13/2020

382,630  confirmed cases 

30,795 deaths    68,584 recovered

Total in United States: 2,074,526 confirmed cases, 115,436 deaths
Total Worldwide: 7,764,977 confirmed cases, 429,666 deaths

* All numbers are taken from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center