L ifestyle /C ulture
Art Exhibit to Honor Faces of COVID Victims
ART JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
LIKE MOST PEOPLE, RA
Friedman was mostly stuck at
home due to COVID in June
2020. Except Friedman didn’t cope
with Netflix binge sessions or
Zoom happy hours.

Instead, the Philadelphia
artist started drawing detailed
pictures of local people who died
from COVID.

Friedman spent hours surfing
the internet, finding the images
and backstories of the deceased
on Legacy.com and in area
newspapers. Then he spent hours
more in his studio, honoring
these people in the best way he
knew how — by sketching them
with enough detail to empha-
size their humanity. And then
by sharing the sketches online
through a Facebook page.

Now, almost two years into
the pandemic, the Jewish artist
is still drawing, and his portraits
will be featured in a show at
InLiquid at 1400 N. American St.

From Feb. 4 to March 5,
Friedman’s portraits will hang in
the nonprofit’s visual art space.

Called “The Trouble I’ve Seen:
Drawings from the COVID-19
18 JANUARY 27, 2022
Portrait Project,” the exhibit will
show four drawings as oversized
mesh prints, 14 others as framed
pictures and a wall installation
of the other 155 portraits.

Names will not be revealed.

Also, in 2022, Friedman has
expanded the project to include
people from across the United
States. “There was a lot of suffering,”
he said. “I felt, what can I do as
an artist for the community?”
The artist was quick to point
out that he didn’t craft all the
images. He did about 78 of them,
while the rest were contributed
by artists Friedman connected
with online during the project.

“Basically, all of them will be
up,” the artist said.

Friedman used to get a
part-time salary from the
University of Pennsylvania for
overseeing the Robert and Molly
Freedman Jewish Sound Archive
in Penn Libraries. But after the
pandemic broke out, his 20-hour
a week position went away.

He still manages the Yiddish
music archive but not in an official
capacity. Luckily, he is getting
some help on his bills now that
his job is gone, but for the most
part, he’s fine in that area.

Friedman is not getting paid
for the art gallery, either. As the
RA Friedman in his studio
A portrait by RA Friedman
artist explained it, he doesn’t
want to profit off of people’s
pain. The longtime Philadelphia
resident, 62, is drawing the
likenesses of real people, not
fictional characters. It is just his
intention to make viewers feel
them as individuals, like he did
as he was drawing them.

And if viewers feel this in
the same way, they will see the
pandemic as more than just a
news story defined by numbers,
like cases, hospitalizations and
deaths. Instead, they will see it
as a human tragedy.

“I thought about the people,
and felt like I started to know
them,” Friedman said. “Their
energy rubbed off on me.”
One guy was a salesman or
Realtor, Friedman can’t quite
remember. But while he was
drawing the guy, the artist
imagined him as “a really good
father,” he said. Then Friedman
looked up the man’s full obituary
and learned that he was right.

This happened over and over
throughout the process.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Courtesy of RA Friedman
“You really do start to feel
like you’ve hung out with them,”
Friedman said.

It’s possible he needed that
himself. He’s a retiree from
a career in nonprofits and
not-for-profits, including the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
and the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, with no spouse
or kids.

Friedman said his living
situation used to “just be me and
the cat.”
“Now it’s just me,” he added.

The artist is spending most
of his time in his studio, priori-
tizing, as he put it, quality over
quantity. But soon, his gallery, his
creations and his new acquain-
tances will bring people
together. The artist has done
exhibits in the past but none of
this magnitude.

“Some of the families have
seen it on the Facebook page. I’m
hoping they’ll come out to see
it,” he said.

Amie Potsic, a Berwyn-based
art adviser who has known
Friedman for years, was instru-
mental in putting the show
together. When Friedman showed her
the project, she was so impressed
that she wanted to bring it to a
bigger audience.

“Philadelphia is searching for
a memorial,” Potsic said.

So, Potsic reached out to
a contact who runs InLiquid,
Rachel Zimmerman. And
Zimmerman was interested.

“There’s been so much loss
that we need to look back and
remember people,” she said.

Throughout the show,
InLiquid will be open
Wednesday-Saturday from
noon-6 p.m. Entry is free, but
masks and vaccinations are
required. After the exhibit, Potsic
may work with Friedman on
turning it into a book.

“Books last,” she concluded. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM