"I am an artist first, a censor second."
Roman is an artist whose job it is to censor people's faces out of paintings, and therefore out of history. His job is complicated and has a negative impact on his well-being, as he struggles with the moral implications of what he is doing.
"But in this photograph, she still has a tutu, tights, a full house, roses in water and champagne on ice in her dressing room. Still has a career. A home. A diploma. A birth certificate."
Roman is given an assignment, whereby he must censor out a ballerina's face from a picture. However, he finds this difficult as he empathizes with her, remembering that she had a life of her own. The moral issues surrounding Markin's job is something that Marra focuses on in this story, later showing the implications of these actions in the story "Granddaughters."
