Ruby MonroeEdie writes . . .
Serious Portraits
Most of the
drawings that I did on this project, especially the ones I did of men,
were received in a similar way. The person would look at the drawing
intently for a few seconds and then exclaim, “That’s me! That’s me!”
Sometimes
I felt compelled to apologize for the seriousness of a drawing. The
apology would almost always be met with an objection, something like:
“I like it. That is the way I feel sometimes, especially since I’ve
been here.”
One time I brought a drawing back to the shelter to
work on it more, because I thought it was too “heavy.” It was of a
woman who seemed to radiate energy. There was sadness in her life, but
she still had an air of vitality about her. I wanted to capture that
quality.
As I worked on her drawing for the second time, the
woman gave me an update on what was going on in her life. Along with
her usual smiles and laughter, this session also produced tears. She
had just found out that her family was in the process of trying to take
legal custody of her children; she was a crack addict who was trying to
get clean but who hadn’t yet successfully done so. She talked about the
anger, the hurt, and the fears she felt not only because of her
family’s actions, but also because she faced the very real possibility
of losing her children. I felt her pain as I drew her—the pain I knew I
would feel if someone took my children from me—but I kept my feelings
at bay. I was out to capture her “lightness.”
When I got the
picture home, I realized I had failed utterly. The picture was more
depressing than ever. In fact, I still have a hard time looking at it.
—Edie Cohn, 1993
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