Poppy

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Artist: Blair Cahill

Title: Poppy

Attribution: Poppy, 2025, Blair Martin Cahill

Year: 2025

Materials: Tapestry

Dimensions: 24X 25 X 1

Image Statement: Poppy was a flame-haired spectacle in a world gone gray. A circus performer during the lean years of the 1930s, she traveled from dusty town to dusty town, a riot of color in a time of rationed joy. Her skin was a living canvas—inked from collarbone to ankle with mermaids, saints, and snarling tigers—each tattoo a story, a dare, a memory she refused to forget. In the ring, she dazzled on the trapeze or danced on broken glass, smiling like a girl with nothing to lose. Children adored her, preachers condemned her, and drifters swore they'd seen her fly. In a decade marked by scarcity, Poppy offered something rare: wonder.