Mavis

My great grandmother, Mavis, was born in Jamaica and moved to Panama as a young girl. She eventually came to America with her husband, Sam, an American soldier she met in Panama. But shortly after she arrived, she died at the age of 23 in Oregon. The story of her life is brief but rich. We are still unearthing it.

Any pictures of her that my gram had access to were destroyed by her stepmother before my gram ended up in an orphanage. We long for a photo.

I wanted to draw Mavis with the energy and fierce spirit of a young girl who rests inside the love of her big family.

Her daughter, Eleanor, (my gram) just turned 95 this fall. They are both heavily on my mind and heart today.