Black Lives Matter Activism via Art

The Black Lives Matter Movement of 2020

    During the summer of 2020 the United States, and really all of the world, took to the streets to support what has been assumed to be the largest civil rights movement in U.S. history (Buchanan, Bui, Patel). The movement seemed to have started as a result of the death of a Minnesota man, George Floyd, at the hands of city police. Floyd’s neck was kneeled on for 8 minutes and 46 seconds as he screamed “I can’t breathe” (Hill et. al). Floyd died in the hospital later that day. Despite the United States being, almost entirely, on lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic data firm Civis Analytics suggested that approximately 15-26 million Americans took to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd (Buchanan, Bui, Patel). 

    As the eyes of the world turned on the tragedy that took place on May 25th, 2020 in Minnesota, protests, riots, and looting broke out across the globe. Despite mounting concerns that the riots and looting that fell upon the nation with nightfall would cast a shadow over the civil rights movement, protests and rallies calling for justice for Floyd’s death, and the unfair loss of many black lives beforehand, paved the way for the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. In fact, according to Stanford University professor David McAdam, “It looks, for all the world, like these protests are achieving what very few do: setting in motion a period of significant, sustained, and widespread social, political change,” (Buchanan, Bui, Patel).

    With over 26 million posts on Instagram using the #blacklivesmatter tag to date, the BLM movement has become arguably the largest civil rights movement of all time. Many have argued that the massive size of the movement is owed to the prominence of social media all around the globe. By providing all users with access to the stories and accounts of the Black Lives Matter movement, social media platforms helped spread the word of the movement. Users were able to see the aftermath of Floyd’s death, and others like Breonna Taylor's and Jacob Blake's, which allowed them to make their own decisions on the movement. 

    The presence of social media not only helped grow the Black Lives Matter movement but pave a way for a new type of political activism: artistic activism. The massive reach of the Black Lives Matter movement provided many artists with the opportunity to empower the black community that has faced a great deal of oppression and discrimination since the start of the United States. Protestors were given the opportunity to use their art to create political signs and posters to bring to rallies. Oppressed black artists were given a platform to share their art, and embrace their culture. In a sense, the BLM movement gave every American the opportunity to use their art to make a statement for good.

Examples of BLM Political Art

Stolen by Adrian Brandon (2019-2021) (adrianbrandon.com)

    Seattle-born, Brooklyn-based artist Adrian Brandon created his series Stolen in response to the black lives taken at the hands of police in the United States. As a black man himself, Brandon has faced an internal battle over the “stolen lives” of the people he draws and paints. Using pencils and markers to create portraits of these lost lives, Brandon only colors the faces of the “stolen lives” for the number of years the victim was alive. For example, Tamir Rice was only twelve when he was murdered, so he only colored for twelve minutes. In his artist statement, Brandon explained that “As a person of color, I know that my future can be stolen from me if I’m driving with a broken taillight, or playing my music too loud, or reaching for my phone at the wrong time. So for each of these portraits, I played with the harsh relationship between time and death” (Brandon). The lack of “completeness” of the piece is meant to create a stark contrast between the life each victim lived versus the amount of time they would have lived if they weren’t wrongly murdered. 

Nikkolas Smith (2020)

    Former theme park designer Nikkolas Smith turned away from his previous with hopes that his concept art will portray the real events of the Black Lives Matter movement. Playing a crucial role in art as a form of political activism, Smith worked to capture moments from protests and rallies that weren’t picked up by the media. Using juxtapositions in color and shapes between the police and protestors who took to the streets during the summer of 2020, Nikkolas Smith created political messages by portraying the truth. Smith’s collection of pieces from the past year have been featured on massive platforms like TIME Magazine and The New York Times (Gehl). 

The Mural at the George Floyd Memorial by Cadex Herrera, Greta McLain, and Xena Goldman (2020)

    Following the death of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020, a memorial was set up to honor the man in his Minneapolis neighborhood. Created by community artists Cadex Herrera, Greta McLain, and Xena Goldman, The Mural at the George Floyd Memorial has become the face of artistic protest surrounding the BLM movement. The mural was painted on the side of the Cup Foods at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue South. The grocery store is a mere two-minute walk away from the place where George Floyd was arrested. Highlighting a portrait of Floyd in the center, the piece has the names of the previous Black Americans that perished at the hands of police. The mural stood as the main piece of artistic activism following Floyd’s death, with thousands of people paying their respects to the lost man in front of it. The mural was also used as the background of his funeral, which was broadcasted on national television (Sayej).

A Letter to the Political Activist Artists that Supported BLM

    On May 25th, 2020, as a majority of U.S. Citizens remained locked down due to COVID-19, George Floyd's life was taken in just 8 minutes and 46 seconds. I had just returned back to Bend, Oregon after a two-month lockdown in the midwest with my family. I was sitting on my buddy Merritt's couch. I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across a friend's story. Instagram had placed a "sensitive content" warning on her story. I clicked okay, and I watched a man's life get taken away from him. He was in Minnesota, I was in Oregon. I had not known him, but I had just witnessed a man die before me. The world around me started to burn, but the loss of structures did not justify his death. There is no way to

bring George Floyd back, but there are ways to commemorate him and the other stolen lives. 

    Through art, we are able to commemorate them. We are able to make a statement. A peaceful statement. Artists can preserve the truth of the situation in a new way. Artists can motivate viewers to have hard conversations. With art, there is no violence, only protest. 

Works Cited

Brandon, Adrian. “Stolen.” Art Portfolio. Adrian Brandon. Accessed March 16, 2021. https://www.adrianbrandon.com/stolen.

Buchanan, Larry, Quoctrung Bui, and Jugal K. Patel. “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History.” The New York Times, July 3, 2020, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html.

Gehl, Nick. “4 Artists Showing That Black Lives Matter.” The Art of Education University, July 31, 2020. https://theartofeducation.edu/2020/07/31/4-artists-showing-that-black-lives-matter/.

Hill, Evan, Ainara Tiefenthäler, Christiaan Triebert, Drew Jordan, Haley Willis, and Robin Stein. “How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody.” The New York Times, June 1, 2020, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html.

Instagram. “#blacklivesmatter.” Accessed March 16, 2021. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/blacklivesmatter/.

Sayej, Nadja. “The Story Behind The Mural At The George Floyd Memorial.” Forbes. Accessed March 16, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadjasayej/2020/06/04/the-story-behind-the-mural-at-the-george-floyd-memorial/.