Sunlight in a Cold Cellar
Image Credit: MJ Griego
Image Description: A four-panel illustrative art piece with purple text and drawings on a white background, titled “Sunlight in a Cold Cellar.”
Full Text:
I have always struggled working. Do I really “need” rest? Am I supposed to work in severe pain? I have been “on a break” for a while, unsure if I can ever return, even part-time. Meanwhile, the most important work I do is with my community. Many wouldn’t even call it work. But for us, checking in saves lives, makes days worth having, makes a new world a little more real. To us, real care is the strip of sunlight in a cold cellar. Showing each other what we deserve is vital work; having needs and receiving help.
Image Description:
Panel 1: Purple text drawn on a white background reads, “I have always struggled working. Do I really ‘need’ rest? Am I supposed to work in severe pain?” Below the text is a purple cartoon body curled on its back, looking down in discomfort with stars of pain sparkling around it.
Panel 2: A purple canvas textured background with thin white outlines of stars and swirling clouds. Below it, a white figure sleeps in a bed lined with purple, with its arms around its head in an extreme curve. On the bed itself is the text, “I have been ‘on a break’ for a while, unsure if I can ever return, even part-time.” The comforter melts down the bed itself.
Panel 3: Purple scrawled text on a white background reads, “Meanwhile, the most important work I do is with my community. Many wouldn’t even call it work. But for us, checking in saves lives, makes days worth having, makes a new world a little more real.” In the bottom right of the panel is a purple phone with white inside line details of buttons, held by a purple outlined hand. On the phone the person holding it has texted, “Hey babe, you ok?” and a text bubble response says, “Thx 4 asking TT-TT.”
Panel 4: Purple text on a white background reads, “To us, real care is the strip of sunlight in a cold cellar. Showing each other what we deserve is vital work; having needs and receiving help.” An illustration of a purple dark brick wall and dirt floor has a person holding themself with tears in their eyes. White light illuminates a strip of the person and room. Little sprouts come up through the floor.
