Thank You for Your Courage, Commitment, Sacrifice

I created portraits of real New York City medical workers as messages of gratitude during the COVID-19 crisis.

Thank You for Your Commitment

Thank You for Your Commitment depicts two FDNY paramedics, Sherry Singleton and Christell Cadet.

Displays

• The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC (Fall 2020)
• In non-profit community spaces in NYC, thanks to F.Y.Eye. (Summer 2020):
• YM & YWHA of Inwood and Washington Heights
• Commonpoint Queens
• League Education and Treatment Center
• Korean Community Services Center
• Mosholu Montefiore Community Center
• Union Community Health Center
• 400 bus stations and newsstands in Boston, Chicago, and NYC (July 13–August 31, 2020)
• Times Square digital billboards (May 15–July 12, 2020):
  • 1551 Broadway at 46th Street
  • 1585 Broadway between 47th and 48th Streets
  • 20 Times Square at 47th Street and Seventh Ave

Thank You for Your Courage

Thank You for Your Courage was inspired by nurses organizing for adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). In the center is Kelley Cabrera, RN, a vocal advocate and NY State Nurses Association local bargaining unit president at a public hospital in the Bronx. Clerical associate Elsie Rios, who assists with COVID intake at the same hospital, is also depicted.

Displays

• The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC (Fall 2020)
• Times Square: 1551 Broadway at 46th Street (July 13–early August, 2020)

Thank You for Your Sacrifice

Thank You for Your Sacrifice is influenced by an emergency room doctor in Queens, who temporarily left his home to protect the health and safety of his wife and baby.

My goal was to honor the diverse individuals whose stories inspired the portraits, as well as all front-line workers. It was important for me to represent people of color: COVID’s disproportionate impacts on Black and brown communities reveal the urgency of addressing systemic inequality. I was also motivated to represent Asian Americans in the context of rising anti-Asian sentiment. Finally, I hope that pointing attention to the risks and struggles faced by health care workers and their families can lend perspective to coping with the relatively minor inconveniences of cooperating with mask-wearing, sheltering-in-place, and social-distancing guidelines.

Credit: Christine Wong Yap, Thank You for Your Sacrifice, Thank You for Your Courage, Thank You for Your Commitment, 2020, commissioned by Times Square Arts with For Freedoms, Poster House, and PRINT Magazine, images courtesy the artist. Photos by by Maria Baranova for Times Square Arts.

Thanks to the subjects for giving their permission to use their likenesses. Thanks to Hank Willis Thomas, For Freedoms, Times Square Arts, Brittni Collins, Taylor Brock, Gabriel Garcia Roman, and Amy Lee Sanford. Thanks also to Kathy Rubenstein, Carmen Boon, Kristi Barnes, John C. Doyle, and Barbara Deiorio in assistance with identifying and contacting the medical workers.