JACKSONVILLE, Fl -- El Faro sank 15,000 feet below the sea taking 33 lives - fathers, husbands, sons and daughters. Roosevelt Watson, a Jacksonville artist, was commissioned to memorialize the crew on canvas; he said it was a difficult undertaking.
"It was taking a mental and spiritual toll that these people left behind their children, their mama and grandmas," he said.
Watson said the challenges were trying to imagine what the crew experienced during those final minutes. He said it was very emotional because as a father he has experienced the loss of a child.
"I'm getting chill bumps right now thinking about how someone could have died in that watery grave," he said.
Then it became time to convey the range of emotions he felt in his art. The piece is mixed media, the title is simple.
"I just titled it El Faro," he said. "The lighthouse."
The piece, nine feet in length, took twelve months to complete.
"I want something done on my walls"
Rochelle Hamm called it a masterpiece. Her husband Frank is one of the 33 crew members. Hamm said the past three years have been difficult.
"It has been a long journey," she said. "Painful, very painful."
The work was commissioned by Roderick Frazier, who once served on EL Faro. He said it is to the memory of those souls.
The El Faro sinking has been described as the worst U.S. Maritime Disaster in decades. As a result, this week Congress approved new safety measures for the maritime industry.
Rochelle Hamm said if they're implemented, another family will not have to experience the loss she now lives with every day.
"The message is not to forget because there were lives loss," said Hamm.
Watson said he is pleased with his piece of art and what it represents.
"What it says going forward is that you will not be forgotten," said Watson. "To me that's what art does."
Hamm would like to see a similar piece hanging on the walls of the Jacksonville International Airport.
She said it would remind travelers the cargo ship was based here, and it would remind them of those who died on that ill-fated voyage October 1, 2015.
