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Item description
A monochrome woodcut titled “Me the Coffee”. In the center of the piece is a portrait of a mature woman. Lining her portrait on the left are the words “cappuccino” and “expresso” with a steaming coffee cup in between. Lining her portrait on the right are the words “mocha” “cafe au lait” and three coffee beans. Beneath the portrait are the words “When challenges confront you, be the coffee! The hotter the water you find yourself in the stronger you become.” The artwork is bordered by drawings of leaves.
Image 1970

Retablos of Resistance 3

Pamela Harris Lawton

Eight artist friends and I collaborated on an artist's book project to capture our thoughts and experiences with the year 2020--which included our responses to multiple crises that year from COVID-19, to racial unrest and the presidential election. All of the images here were created as part of that project. The book I created, "Retablos of Resistance" (Lawton-cover and Lawton-8) was inspired by Mexican retablos and ex-votos, small devotional altars and paintings commemorating saints and/or stories of traumatic events. Retablos are small altar-like forms typically found in churches and homes. Ex-votos are small paintings on tin that depict a tragedy or someone with a grave illness/injury; a saint or martyr that intervened to 'save the day'; an inscription describing the tragic event and giving thanks for the divine intervention. In thinking about the year 2020 and similar events from the past--a continuous cycle of injustice, hardship, disease, and devastation--resistance has been the key to surviving and thriving. The concept of retablos and ex-votos fit well with visualizing the events of 2020. "Be the Coffee" is a self-portrait I created during the pandemic centered around a fable about a mother's advice to her daughter using coffee as a metaphor. This fable spoke to how I felt I needed to think and behave to survive the multiple crises that comprised the year 2020.