Fallen Angel of Hope

Artist: Alberta Maineri-Burke

Alberta Maineri-Burke (@artsy_alberta) is a self-taught emerging collage artist and amateur photographer.  She loves photographing the people closest to her as well as urban and natural settings. Her interest in collaging first started when she designed a hands-on art class for young artists, focused on using natural and recycled items. Alberta lives in Astoria, Queens with her husband and her two children. Through her art, she hopes to express her views, experiences, and sense of community in an environmentally sustainable medium.

Her photograph (seasonally appropriate for winter!) invites the question:

What do you think about angels?

Here’s what some of our neighbors said:

I don’t know what I think about angels. I don’t believe in the ones with wings, or the chubby baby ones, but I do think there might be divine presences. But I’m more comfortable thinking of them as ancestors than as part of a celestial hierarchy.

When I think of angels I think of my cousin Ethan, who died at 2 months old.

This photo encapsulates angels to me: ephemeral whispers, suggestions of a suggestion of a higher power. The distant call of a seagull outside my window, light reflecting off of buildings and trickling down through trees onto the sidewalk… Angels are in all the cracks and corners of our world, just waiting to be seen.

Angels are cosmic, metaphysical, and inspirational. But we become angels when we support and love each other in defiance of life's hardship and uncertainty. We are an angelic force to reckon with, and together we can make our world better in this lifetime, and in the ones yet to come.

They give me peace and inspiration. My mom died recently and I would like to think she is one and looking out for me.