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Illustrator Zahra Marwan moved to the United States from Kuwait as a child. She has some of her illustrations hanging in her studio at the Harwood Art Center.(Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Zahra Marwan relies on her vivid memories to inspire her artwork.
Normally, the Albuquerque-based artist is influenced by her travels and daily interactions with others.
For the past nine months, she’s mostly remained at home – rarely traveling to her art studio at Harwood Art Center.
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“I miss the casual experiences of talking to strangers,” she says. “The stories I do hear these days are from my mother who is living in Kuwait. I also find inspiration in the things I read throughout the day.”
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Volunteers get food boxes ready to distribute at Expo New Mexico on Dec. 1. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
Imagine waiting in line four hours for a couple boxes of food. Sadly, many New Mexicans needn’t imagine it – they’re living it.
The need for food “has gone through the roof,” says Ari Herring, executive director of Rio Grande Food Project on Albuquerque’s West Side. “New Mexico is a fragile state when it comes to food security, so this pandemic is hitting us hard. It’s the holiday season now, and a lot of people are really struggling.”
The Journal’s “Help for the Holidays” series found the pandemic and its economic fallout have made food insecurity a crisis. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, just three states – Mississippi, Louisiana and West Virginia – had higher rates of food insecurity than New Mexico from 2017 to 2019. That was bef