For Better or For Worse Description:
I don’t think I realized how much the forecasted second wave of the pandemic would hit me until we were in it. Being in lockdown again carries an emotional weight that is difficult to manage. Even though there is now a vaccine within reach, the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes seems far-reaching. But, I still have hope… I have to.
When I saw the photo taken by Nicole DeLoach Hubbard, the chief nurse anesthetist at a hospital in Tampa, Florida, I knew I had my inspiration for my painting, “For Better or For Worse”.
Hubbard snapped this photo of her two married colleagues, Ben Cayer and Mindy Brock, before they were about to start their shift on their hospital’s COVID-19 Airway Team.
What struck me when I read the article about this viral photo (This Photo of a Husband and Wife Working on a COVID-19 Team Shows the Reality of Working in Hospitals Now) was that the husband and wife had argued earlier that morning but put it aside to serve the greater good, their COVID-19 patients. Their commitment to each other and their patients transcends this photo and resonates deeply with me.
I chose to use this intimate moment shared between husband and wife as the focal point of my painting because it reflects our global predicament: sacrificing our own wants and needs to protect the larger community. The risk that these two nurse anesthetists take every time they go on a shift to intubate and extubate patients is awe-inspiring and courageous. The affection and love they share despite the barriers of their PPE is undeniable.
I chose to enclose them in a glass globe suspended in dark waters to symbolize the fragility of our existence and the chaos that has overswept us as a result of the pandemic.
But it is not the silent and microscopic coronavirus particles that I faintly painted in the water that break the globe open, it is the hope and light that burst through the protective glass enclosure that offer a glimpse into a brighter future.
The couple’s intense gaze on one and other and their passionate hands on the sides of their masked faces symbolize a commitment and purpose much greater than themselves. They are a reflection of what frontline workers all over the world are doing to combat the virus and sustain the larger community. It is selfless, dangerous, necessary, and heroic.
So when I feel like I’m drowning in turbulent waters like the ones in my painting, I look at Ben Cayer and Mindy Brock and focus on the light and spirit within that can illuminate even the darkest of times. For better or for worse, we are all in this together.