Artist Statement

Jennifer Graham
Saint Johns, Florida
JenGrahamReports@yahoo.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/JenGrahamReports

Artist Statement

I was sitting in a journalism class and the students drew numbers out of a hat to pick which cold case story we would write about. I told my professor I would take who was left after every student in the class made their choice. Willie Coffee was the last case to be assigned. I believe everything happens for a reason.

The “Willie Coffee,” piece was inspired by the unsolved murder of Coffee. In the spring of
2018, I interviewed surviving members, of the Coffee Family. Willie Coffee was found by
Jacksonville Sheriffs Officers, lying lifeless on a front porch in 1994 with a gun-shot
wound. Someone knows something, yet it remains unsolved today. I took on the emotions from the family members as they shared their experience of losing a loved one.

Their memories were painful to discuss with me, a stranger. He used to draw buildings and wanted to be an architect. After learning this fact about Willie, I was inspired. Through intaglio etching, I brought Willie to the surface. I created an outline duplicating the graduation portrait of Willie Coffee that I etched into a nickel plate and printed using a printing press.

Using soft ground on the nickel plate, I closed his eyes to represent an end to the written
story. I worked on this plate the entire time I was researching Willie’s case. With one of
the outline prints, I colored it with colored pencils, matted and framed as a gift for the son of Coffee. I was able to release the sadness I felt for this family. Through creation is
release. The inspiration comes from empathy but carries purpose.