I Take My Whiskey Neat

This painting was created during a time when I felt the weight of watching my community strained and harmed by the presence of ICE. The raven stands as a witness — a sharp‑eyed guardian perched in the middle of beauty, tension, and loss. In its beak, the melting ice isn’t just a visual detail; it’s a literal call to melt ICE, to dissolve the forces that have disrupted families, safety, and belonging.

The candle and glass in the foreground echo that same emotional landscape. Wax drips, ice softens, and what once felt solid begins to break down. These objects become symbols of a community under pressure, of warmth fighting against coldness, of people holding onto each other even as systems try to pull them apart.

This piece is my way of transforming frustration into imagery, turning anger, grief, and hope into something viewers can sit with and interpret. It invites reflection on what it means to protect one another, to resist quietly or loudly, and to imagine a world where the structures that harm us finally melt away.