Blind Faith for Juan Rivera
A cut-up Illinois state flag forms the butterfly, the state insect, in the center. Juan Rivera and attorney ate at Blind Faith, a vegan restaurant in Evanston. Rivera states about the meal, “I don’t really remember but it was full of spices and flavor and the food was beautiful. I wanted flavors, in there you don’t get any flavors.” The aromatic spice pouch on the upper left of the painting is to be refilled with fresh garam masala annually. This first meal painting of a wrongfully convicted person is a collaboration with the exoneree, the Center on Wrongful Convictions and Julie Green.
2019
44 x 41 in.
acrylic on Tyvek, silk and glow-in-the dark thread, portion of Illinois state flag, acrylic and watercolor on found butterfly sampler, Copic marker, turmeric-dyed silk, and garam marsala