GLANCING THE GALLANT | A Picture is Worth Thousand Words

MEET LEAH MCCLOSKEY

On a typical weekend summer day, Leah, a henna artist and pyrographer, would be drawing on people at festivals or going to art fairs and seeing live music at local pubs. She would also be helping people relieve stress and pain through her licensed massage therapy practice and Brinka Chiropractic.

During the “Shelter in Place” order, she began creating sidewalk chalk art to show love and support through the only way she knew how.

When civil unrest proceeded to hit the world just as we entered Phase 3, Leah chalked the State of Liberty donned with a mask with arms of all races raised together - “Liberty is not Liberty unless for all”.

It was a picture worth a thousand words.

She drew the piece to express her emotions – “my heart hurt, my head hurt, and my soul was weeping,” she shares. “I felt powerless to help and it is not my voice that needs to be heard today; so, the only way I felt I could get my emotions out and create a safe space was to draw what I felt.”

She first created a Liberty piece in henna on her hand, then decided to attempt to burn it on wood. The original design has an American flag in the background and is titled "Liberty is Weeping" – with viral tears to represent the virus. In the next drawing, Leah added the fists because she is angry and wants her friends and community to know she supports them and is here for them.

After receiving many requests, the drawing will be made into prints and other items with all net proceeds being donating to Black Lives Matter and the Brave Space Alliance.

“I will continue to use my voice and my art to spread Alliance and peace; but, it is not my voice that needs to be heard, right now it is my job to shut up and listen and let the voices of those that have been oppressed for far too long be heard.” -Kristen Kuchraski

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