If I Died
Olena M. Marshall’s If I Died is a funeral self-portrait, conceived in the weeks leading to the onset of COVID in Chicago. Originally, the image was intended as commentary on the spirit of good-natured, practical preparedness for one’s passing that Marshall’s Ukrainian grandmother displayed in instructing her children on her own funeral arrangements and the traditional items she had purchased for the occasion. Marshall’s self-portrait was meant to denote that same spirit of agency and unsentimental attitude, for Marshall akin to checking the weather and packing skillfully for a demanding hike.
Whereas pre-COVID, If I Died could be viewed as exotic or self-indulgent, the pandemic changed the context for viewing the work by bringing the specter of illness and death into immediate focus and commonplace conversation.
Olena M. Marshall
If I Died
Oil on Rives BFK
14 x 17 inches
2020
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Face to Face: An exhibition of self-portraits, 2020