Angels of Addictions was conceived by Anne marie Farley Zanfagna about a year after the death of her youngest daughter, Jacqueline Zanfagna.
Jacqueline died of a heroin and fentanyl overdose on October 18, 2014. At the time of Jackie’s death, her parents, Anne Marie and Jim Zanfagna made the decision to be open with her cause of death, in hopes of raising awareness of addiction.
After Jacqueline passed away, Anne Marie, who had worked in oil paints for most of her life, found that she could not paint. When she was able to start living again, she decided to paint Jacqueline. She poured her love and tears over Jackie into a portrait; the first portrait she ever painted. She fell in love with the style. It was real, but it was different, and as one reporter 
noted, it took out some of the harder details. She felt like she had been able to spend some time with Jackie.
Anne Marie and Jim brought the painting with them to a Mercy Street meeting; which is a support group in Plaistow, NH for those affected by addiction. It was so well received that another family grieving their child lost to overdose requested a portrait. And then another.
As she painted portraits of the children of others, she began to feel a new purpose. In 2015 our country was losing 124 people every day to addiction and related causes. In 2018 we lost 193 every day. As Anne Marie paints each face, she is frequently moved by the question “Where is the outrage?” We are losing a generation and too many still think of addiction as a moral failing. Addiction is a disease that we can fight, and this is Anne Marie’s way of fighting.
Anne Marie Zanfagna’s portraits are a true testament to the power of art therapy. Her heart and soul go into every portrait painting that she does. Visit our Request a Portrait page to find out how to request a portrait of a loved one who has passed away from a heroin overdose.
CARL RUSSO/Staff photoAnne Marie Zanfagna paints a portrait of heroin overdose victim Daniel Barnes. After losing her 25-year-old daughter, Jackie, to a heroin overdose, Zanfagna began painting these portraits to remember those who have been lost to the epidemic.