Elizabeth Raoof – Losing Touch

Judge’s Choice – Art Student/Resident Category

Judge’s Comments:
Have you ever felt just numb?
Executed as a digital painting/drawing, the portrait “Losing Touch” insinuates there once was sympathy, energy, and will. Eyes prepared for the day’s work with mascara, eyebrows drawn in just-so, flyaway hairs in brunette and auburn hues surround her ears after taking off the face mask, a painted lip revealed, ever so slightly pursed as the thought of what has transpired gives way to a final expression: resolve waning. Accentuated by broad, aggressive facial strokes to express light and dark, it is obvious this woman has grit, but perhaps it is not so immutable as once before.
Confronted by the gaze of the subject, if willing to meet those eyes, deep multitudes of emotion surface. In recent experience, one might recognize instantly what has been dubbed “pandemic fatigue.” Results are physical and mental tiredness, loneliness, worry, extreme sadness, dejectedness at losing another patient, or even lack of compassion for those who unnecessarily perished after avoiding vaccination, a preventable loss. Or maybe we see a more timeless and particular burden of women, caring for others at work, and at home, pressured still to out-perform male counterparts, all while expressing an acutely feminine empathy. Is the expectation too crushing? Meet her eyes and confront your own thoughts and emotions. Take 60 seconds and see what is elicited from within—are you losing touch, too?