JULIA POSEY

In 2020, Covid-19 found us closing down our worlds. Staying home. Experiencing home, work, schooling in a different way. The murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer highlighted how much America remains the same since its inception. Whether it’s a knee on a neck or a Black birder in NYC denied the right to live freely, or even live, the year of 2020 has forever changed me and us.

 

I was drawn to introspection, parenting two sons in exceptional times, keeping education on track, cooking for a family of four, realizing how fortunate I have been despite the struggles. 

 

I watched a LACMA interview with artist Calida Garcia Rawles. She spoke with curator of Contemporary Art Christine Y. Kim about the museum's recent acquisition of her painting The Space in Which We Travel. Rawles asked herself, how will this pandemic change me? I found that such a healthy question. I asked it of myself.

 

Over the pandemic, I decided to observe more closely and challenge myself to translate my observations to the page. I decided to draw a bird a day. As the world shut down, birds kept right about their business, following migrations and great journeys, stopping in our yards and lingering outside our windows. All we had to do was open our eyes to experience the joy of avian freedom.