In 2008, Theresa BrownGold embarked on a mission to understand how THE u.s. health CARE system works by painting the people it impacts.

Today, BrownGold continues to paint the faces of the insured, the uninsured, and the underinsured--individuals representing a diversity of backgrounds, political persuasions, races, ethnicities, genders, and abilities whose lives have been changed by their access or lack of access to health care. In the intervening years, she learned about policies and programs, the heavy costs of our system, and what it truly means to have compassion, for others and for ourselves. (Click on any image below to learn more)

The head of a white woman with strokes of yellow, orange and pink in her face. Her short hair is longer in the front and hangs down over part of her eye. Her green eyes look out and she smiles with teeth showing. She appears to be leaning forward. She wears a necklace and earrings that nearly blend in with her skin-tones. Her vivid blue shirt has a deep neck. The background is solid red.

A mid-30s, copper skinned male; lips slightly parted as he smiles, showing deep laugh lines; he has a defined jaw & chin; looks straight at the viewer from a black background; short black hair, receded hairline; closer set eyes, with bags, plucked brows; he wears a medium blue, v-neck sports jersey with the number 8; shoulders somewhat haunched

What if you could know another's story?

The head of a woman in her early twenties appears in three-quarters view. She peers to the left. She has long golden brown hair under a blue painter's cap. The whole image appears to have run, as though water has been poured down it. Streaks of red and blue conceal part of the sitter's face including her smile. The background is similarly streaked in shades of blue and gray.

A copper-brown skinned, African American male, about 25 years old; short black hair; strong shouldered, thick- necked; overgrowth of beard, full browed; straight nose, large eyes with dilated pupils & bags, stare out blank, expressionless; his mind apparently somewhere else, deep in thought; square face, broad high forehead, larger ears protrude somewhat. He wears a v-neck white top, that matches the background.

Wearing a bright red blouse, and hugging a cute puppy, a caucasian senior female, with short snow white hair swept to one side, is posed against a blue dark blue background covered with multicolored flecks; the several lines curved around one cheek accent a bright smile through thin parted lips, showing very white teeth; close set, very blue eyes look happily at you.

BronwGold's process begins with an in-depth interview, sometimes hours long. She listens to each person's story intently and without judgment, trying to feel what they feel, to feel who they are. Then she paints, waiting for that same feeling to come to her, looking for that same person to stare back at her from the canvas.

what if you could feel what they feel?

A middle aged man, pictured from the neck up, appears frontally against a solid black ground. His light skin is flecked with pastel blues, greens, and yellows. He stares straight out with light blue eyes slightly squinted, as though he is tired or pained. His skin looks worn. He is bald and has stubble.

The face of a woman with dark, almost black hair swept across her forehead. He skin is pink with contours of beige, light blue, light green, and brown. Her eyelids are covered in light blue shadow. He hazel eyes, under think brows, look out at the viewer. She is wearing a multi-colored headscarf and a long, dangly earring. A vivid background is divided into sections of light blue, orange and mint green, over which networks of lines and connectors appear and, in several places, single bright yellow sunflowers.

A female in her 40s wears a checkered blouse draped just slightly away from her neck; black hair is ear length, parted on the side, with a bang curved up at the end and swept across her forehead; ruddy skin tone; short straight nose, small nostrils; roundish face, full cheeks; she looks peaceful, glancing away from the viewer through thin framed glasses; a plum colored mouth is not smiling but her face is still expressive, reflective; she’s posed in front of 4 long-stemmed medium-blue, petaled flowers, whose background is a multicolored fleck pattern.

A fifty-something man with light brown skin, whitish hair, mustache, and goatee, looks to the left. His eyes squint slightly, matching the slight smile on his full lips. Wrinkles line the man's forehead. He wears several layers--a red v-neck t-shirt under an open denim blue buttondown, under a heavy army green winter coat with a fur or fleece-lined collar. The background is a dark red similar to the color of the man's t-shirt. Daubed paint gives the background texture.

A 50-something, fair complexioned, caucasian female; blonde, thick, shoulder-length hair, parted in the middle, looks upward contemplatively through large, blue, wider set, almond shaped eyes; straight nose, plump rouged cheeks, a short chin; lips slightly pursed, suggest a smile; she’s posed against a medium blue background, patterned with multi-colors.

BrownGold pairs her portraits with written account of the sitters' experiences. The almost clinical narratives give us the facts. The images--powerful, expressive, and intimate--invite us into the stories. The hope is to recreate for viewers the personal connections the artist forged with the sitters. To give us the same opportunity to know them, to imagine ourselves as them, and see ourselves in them.

Against a red background, a 50-something white male, rests a jaw in his hand; he’s unshaven, wearing a lightish blue long-sleeved t-shirt; short but not very close cropped medium-brown hair; under a furrowed unibrow, with heavy, drooped bags beneath them, medium brown eyes are focused, non-descriptively, at the viewer. Thin lips are unparted and unsmiling.

A mid 30-ish white male, dark brown mustache and short beard, short hair brushed back; broad forehead, long slightly arched brows; brown eyes face the viewer; straight nose, nostrils not flared but slightly fleshy; thinner lips offer no smile, leaving his face with a hard to describe expression; thicker neck, broad shouldered; he’s posed against a blue background which matches his dark blue, crew neck top, with a yellow and red triangular insignia in the front.

Would it CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK?

WOULD IT CHANGE YOU?

A 40-something white male with a red mustache and goatee; short hair, v-shaped hairline; grey eyes, slight bags; closed mouth smile, straight nose. He is posed against a blue sky with clouds, as he looks at the viewer, with half of his face concealed behind a curved partition, as if he’s playing a game of peek-a-boo.

"Art As Social Inquiry is a first step to understanding others’ plights. And a first step to our personal liberation. What happened to somebody else CAN happen to us. When we run from this fact, we are running from ourselves. When we stop running from that connectedness, we give ourselves a chance to know our true nature – peace. Practicing compassion for others is in fact radical self-love." - Theresa BrownGold

A woman's head with long, light brown hair parted in the middle. She is wearing a high neck blue sweater. Expressive lines in pink, orange, green and blue contour her face and neck. Her light eyes look up and to the side. She is pictured against a solid, lime green background.

A black woman with curly black hair in a cloud around her head stares straight out. Pinks, yellows, purples, and oranges play with the browns in her face. Her light brown eyes are behind glasses with rectangular frames. A white scarf is wrapped around her neck in a V. Behind her are flecks of color that almost resemble small flowers. They draw from the colors in her face, mixing in daubs of green.

WOULD YOU CHANGE THE WORLD?

Once we can FEEL what it’s like to be priced out of the insurance market, to be uninsured, to be in desperate need of medical care, once we have "jumped in another person's ditch," it is up to us to build a ladder and help us both out.

LYRICS

Listen to "Through the Cracks."

Lyrics by Theresa BrownGold. Music by the Bioionic Rhapsodist. Vocals by Brittany Campbell.

COMPASSION IN ACTION >

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