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Bill Monster, 2022
A Photograph by Cynthia Lizardi
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"Bill Monster" portrays the stress when medical bills from hospital treatments pile up. Parents sacrifice much so their child can be healed, yet the cost is always lurking, ready to strike. I present my parents as merpeople since I usually paint myself as such in other works. The Calamondin tree to the far right references my mother's Filipino heritage, as she supported me on doctor visits. This tree bears small sour citrus on branches with large thorns. It shows how medicine, that is meant to be good for you, can also cause pain. To suggest that the tree is also the bed I am laying in, I incorporated pine needles in both the roots and the bed rails.
I hid medical codes for my diagnosis and treatment under the sea glass scales of the Bill Monster, as these were likely used to create the bills my parents spent years paying even after treatment was over. I coated fine beach sand throughout the piece and on the fins of the monster. I then layered rice paper over the fins with additional sand to give an ethereal depth to them.
Tiny shell fragments encircle my father's neck to reference his passing in recent times. His shell necklace, from when my parents met, was passed to me not long after his death. My family loved the beach when I was a kid, but much of that precious time was taken with extended hospital visits.
