This illuminated series (2022) by poet Becca J.R. Lachman and artist Lynn Sommer is inspired by a fraktur with devotional verse, painted by Becca’s great(x3) grandfather in the Sonnenburg Swiss Mennonite settlement in Kidron, OH (where both Becca and Lynn were raised).

During the pandemic, Becca had the fraktur translated and began a poem series (9 poems total) using the original 1840s “recipe poem” structure as its template. Written while fostering a newborn during Ohio’s Covid lockdown, the poems speak to the grief, uncertainty, and awe of 2020: for Becca, processing the pandemic, being a new parent, and not knowing how the fostering story would resolve.

With another layer tied to the pandemic, Lynn “illuminated” the poems while isolating in her studio when loved ones were ill with Covid. Notes on the symbolism and references woven into the visual pieces available for each piece.