Faces and Voices comprises a series of 34 paintings in gouache that were made during Covid lockdown, from October 2020 to May 2021. In the summer of 2021, I published an edition of 250 copies of the work in book form showing these portraits, each accompanied by a quote from the subject. To view the entire series of images and quotes in the order presented in the book, please click on the button below. To view selected images and texts, click on any thumbnail to view the full-sized portrait with the quotation from the subject.

From the dedication of Faces and Voices:

Breonna Taylor, innocent of any wrongdoing or suspicion thereof, was killed in her bed by plain-clothed police officers, who broke into her locked apartment in the early hours of the morning on March 13, 2020. … She was a young woman doing good in this world. In Breonna’s name, I begin this project.

The faces in this series document some of the voices of Black Americans I have heard and read. I have no illusions that I could make a comprehensive record of salient and eloquent statements about injustice told by Black Americans. Their experiences and statements are innumerable, and not all are recorded. I only want to do my best to give the deepest kind of listening to some of their words that have reached me. … I believe that by listening with an open mind and heart and without defending myself, I, who am white, can make meaningful my own statement that each Black life matters. — E.F.

Faces and Voices