Black Lives Matter: And Why Black Art Matters
For a very long time, there has been art and outcry on how the black community has been treated. From police brutality to blatant racism, the african-american community has found ways to cope by making music and art. As a black person, I can say confidently that the amount of injustice we face can sometimes only be expressed through art. Using art as a form of expression against injustice isn’t new, and various artworks and murals have been seen all over the world to represent the fights for many different struggles.
The most agreed upon start of the black lives matter movement was the killing of Treyvon Martin who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2012. What gave the “black lives matter” movement a sudden revival was the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. To cope with this unjust loss, and to bring more eyes to the movement, many artists made different forms of art. One form of which being murals, not only of George Floyd to remember how he was unjustly killed on the street, but of many different designs bringing light to the black lives matter movement. Even though there are many different black lives matter murals around the United States, I’m mostly going to focus on the ones found in Columbus, Ohio.
Allen Watkins, was the creator of one of the pieces that were part of the black lives matter murals in Columbus, Ohio. His piece included images of George Floyd and the black power fist. The piece makes a statement on the way George Floyd was killed. It memorializes George Floyd as one of the faces of the Black Lives Matter movement, as his death was unjustified and reminds us as to what we are fighting for.
The image itself is reminiscent of street art or modern graffiti which is known as a large part of black culture. Graffiti has been around for centuries before it transitioned to modern day graffiti in the 1960s and 70s. Graffiti has generally been associated with illegality, which is associated with gangs, which in turn is negatively associated with black people which gives us a pretty negative stereotype. In reality, graffiti itself is not always illegal, it’s just that most people only pay attention to it when it was made illegally, such as train cars and street corners. In the United States graffiti has a negative connotation whereas in other places in the world, it’s seen as art to be preserved.
Many of the murals, such as the one created by Francesca Miller and Chineze Okpalaoka, don’t necessarily feature a specific person, but instead feature names of black women who were killed because of police brutality. Once again, the names that feature remind us what this movement is all about.
This piece (other than being called a portrait) doesn’t have a specific name to the kind of style. Even though it’s not a coined term, I would probably refer to this piece as being “afro art”. I would describe afro art as a piece featuring a person of color, with emphasis on showing off their natural hair. Natural hair is a HUGE part of african american culture, as it’s been used as a way to justify racism by claiming that natural hair is “unkept” or “unprofessional”. Black hair represents the history and struggle that black people (mostly black women) had and still have to deal with on a daily basis. For many black women, instead of keeping their hair natural (which was often frowned upon), they would get a perm, making their hair permanently straight with the use of harsh chemicals. My own mothers high school banned natural hair altogether and my mom had a perm for almost all of her childhood.
Columbus definitely isn’t the only place that has a mural for the black lives matter movement. There’s a pretty big mural in Cincinnati, Ohio (Where I’m from!) that really pushed the movement forward. The mural was put together by 17 project managers and over 70 artists and is featured on Plum Street between Eighth and Ninth streets and right in front of city hall. Even though the murals in Columbus are beautiful, this one has to be my favorite so far. It’s so big and in your face that you have to look and enjoy the beauty of this work of art. The amount of love and art work that went into it really blows me away. The image I've included isn’t the best for showing off the artwork (even though it is still pretty good) but it also shows off the scale on how big this mural is.
My only critique is that this mural was not protected the way it should have been. It was covered in salt to prevent ice and snow and it was covered in cracks because of the ice and snow that winter. The city council voted to protect the mural, but it fell on deaf ears. One night, someone dumped red paint on the mural. The person was never caught and it remained until it was FINALLY re-painted almost a year later.
The murals bring the black community together to remind us of the struggles that we continue to face on a daily basis. For those who are not in the black community, it forces them to face the hard hitting questions. These murals not only struck social conversations, but political questions too. Questions of supporting black people who have or are being racially discriminated against.
The BLM murals of Columbus spread the message of how important this movement is by generating awareness and making the hard questions out in the open and easier to discuss. They remind us that even though we’ve had a long fight, it’s not over.
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