Black Lives Matter

Note:
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19 Jun 2020

Black Lives Matter

by AFisher

Tribute to George Floyd - Herold Pierre Louis (Haiti, 2020)

This month I am not featuring any art that is for sale at Indigo Arts or noting museum and gallery shows of interest to me.

Nearly three months of lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19 has been followed by the overwhelming response to the brutal murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.

Here in Philadelphia the demonstrations have been largely peaceful, which is not to say that there hasn't been destructive action by a few. Philadelphia has already endured heavy and tragic losses in the pandemic. Here, as elsewhere in the country, the impact has been disproportionately deadly for black and brown Americans. The pandemic of racism continues unabated. I hope that we are all responding to the call for action - in the causes we support, in the way we vote, and in the way we treat our fellow humans every day. We must each respond in our own ways to the truth, which shouldn't be remotelycontroversial, that Black Lives Matter.

My eyes often look to other countries and cultures as a reflection on our own. I find inspiration from artists - in Haiti and in Peru - who are looking at our scene from the outside. From Herold Pierre-Louis, a 24 year old artist living in the "Atis Rezistans" community of recycler-artists off of the ruined "Gran Rue" shopping street of Port-au-Prince, I found this tribute to George Floyd.

"this portrait is a memory of this man the gentleman to say i will put this one at my place when a racism return to my place the first thing it will see these portrayal of george floyd most people who have racism don't know everyone will die one day we will go the same way it's not the first time it melts things like that racism me I want this man to join are justice black must live all over the world" Herold Pierre Louis (his description - most likely via a Google translation from Kreyol to English)

Another Haitian artist, the great "historic animalist" Frantz Zephirin, has painted the roots of today's tragedy in "America's original sin", slavery. Here he depicts the middle passage of slaves to the new world on the infamous Liverpool slave ship, the Brooks.

Peruvian retablo artist Nicario Jimenez Quispé (brother of Claudio Jimenez Quispé) has looked at more recent conflicts, in epic retablos entitled Years of Struggle, now on display at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, and Immigration: the Nightmare. Details below show the experience of Haitian and Mexican immigrants.

Finally, in a retablo which is also a coffin, Nicario brings the struggle to the present with this memorial portrait.
"When you see injustice you know that you need to speak even with your hands. #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd" Nicario Jimenez Quispé

Note:

I will showcase more of the art which is available at the gallery and website in my next email. Though the gallery is closed to visitors I am receiving online orders as usual and am generally able to pack and ship them out within a few days.

Stay safe and thank you for your continued support.