COOKING WITH RATIONED FOOD

Good meals with wartime rations was the subject of the cook booklet that this piece has as it's background. All of the work to save food and supplies was a countrywide effort during WW 2. This piece reflects the unity that was created in a country at war by the contributions of every individual cook when it was time to prepare a meal with limited resources. Each state in the blue field is represented by an individual ration stamp.

LYDIA PINKHAMS MIRACLE TONIC

Lydia Pinkham made medicine for "nervous ladies." I have a little advertising pamphlet that tells about the miracle Lydia's tonic...everything that ailed the modern woman was addressed in this pamphlet. The stresses of raising children getting to you? Try a drop of the tonic. The stresses of "feminine problems" creating duress? Try Lydia's tonic. Any guesses as to what this miracle drug might have contained?
This piece is created with one of Lydia's advertising pamphlets. Pages of woes and testimonials are layered beneath thin washes of paint. Looking through the layers is looking back into time. The shapes suggest the faces of the women who made use of Lydia's miracle tonic.