Plaistow woman to host art show on addiction

PLAISTOW — A local woman who lost her daughter to heroin will hold an art show in Portsmouth on Mother’s Day to bring attention to the toll of addiction.

Anne Marie Zanfagna of Plaistow began painting in August, almost one year after the death of her 25-year-old daughter, Jackie.

Jackie’s face was the first she painted. She chose an older photo, one where her daughter looked happy and healthy.

“I paint them to bring attention and awareness to the public about heroin because I want to put a face to the number,” she said. “I think showing this through art is really our basic humanity.”

Zanfagna brought Jackie’s portrait — a 12 ½-by-12 ½-inch pink-and-purple piece — to a monthly gathering at a church in Plaistow hosted by activist Doug Griffin of Newton.

She painted a portrait of Griffin’s daughter, Courtney, in December, and then the requests began to pour in. Courtney, 20, died of a heroin overdose in September 2014.

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