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'Real Words': High school senior creates final art project about COVID-19 pandemic

Ahead of graduation, Lori Abalos of Ferris High School documents history through art with newspaper clippings and paint.

FERRIS, Texas — For her final art project at Ferris High School, Lori Abalos documented the current situation with COVID-19.

She created the piece at home, where she's been since spring break. 

"To know that was it and you didn't soak any of it in is probably the hardest part for me," said the high school senior. 

She's sad she won't be able to see her classmates before she goes off to college. Her artwork describes her feelings. 

“It’s the real words that everybody has been surrounded with throughout this time,” said Abalos. 

She clipped words and phrases out of newspapers and created a collage.

On the bottom right side of the piece, she painted a girl enclosed in a glass box. 

“She can see what is happening around her, yet can’t escape it in any way,” said Abalos. 

To her, it symbolizes the shelter-in-place and the isolation from the pandemic.

Behind the girl and the glass box is a hand. 

“I painted a hand holding the girl because even throughout all the pain, God has held us all in the palm of his hand.”

Credit: Lori Abalos


She hopes people will see her artwork and relate to it. 

“Nobody is alone,” said Abalos.

She will be attending an individual graduation ceremony on Monday, where she is the salutatorian of her class. 

Abalos knows that as hard as it may seem, life will move forward. Her freshman year at Texas Woman’s University will eventually start as she pursues her timely dream of being a doctor. 

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