Still at it. With the recent spate of mass shootings we've had here as usual in the U.S.A. I have stubbornly kept on painting my fellow Baltimoreans,, the people we don't even want to know ever existed. Perhaps there are a few surprises in this group. But more and more, the patterns become clear.
Every single one of them are black. Except one. He was Hindu. There is no control over who shows up for their turn at the easel. I can't say "we've reached well over the black quota. I want to focus on others for awhile." Why does that NOT sound good at all? Come one come everybody. We need the truth.
I seem to have returned to being the only artist trying to carry out this task of finding one million American gun victims. Rosalie Pierce has had to go on hiatus in order to scrimp for survival, like too many artists do. Meantime seven of my pieces are on display at the Baltimore Ethical Society. In November all 72 will head to a place called Liam's Ale House. We are starting to get seen.
I do not control who arrives at the studio, but there are some subjects I hoped I never had to paint. When young mother Jennifer Jeffreys and her gifted 7-year old son, Kester Browne arrived one of those hopes shattered to slivers. How gifted was Kester? He was learning mandarin Chinese, and had just been handpicked for a school trip to China. Instead someone slid into their home and shot both of them point blank in the head. Are there any suspects? Nope. This one is unsolved. Got other things to enforce I guess.
Meet Raymond Gordon. He's Freddy Gray's older half-brother. How many know Freddy had an older half-brother who was gunned down in November 2013 by...someone...over something...don't know who did that one either. But Raymond brought home a stronger and stronger pattern. As I look over the whole show the sheer number of older brothers gunned down, I'm starting to think that older brothers are targeted ON PURPOSE so the little brothers and the sisters can make easier bait. If Raymond was still around would Freddy have died? I don't know. All he can do is look out at you and ask "why couldn't I have been there?"
Here come more of the Trayvon Martin's brothers group. First up, from early February of this year, 16-year old Malik Fuller and a friend of his were shot inside a local mini-mart when he went in to purchase snacks. This one is also unsolved. Malik would have turned 17 in 6 days if he had been allowed that snack.
Tywaun Short was 14 years old. As he entered high school he may have dreamed of playing varsity basketball, his favorite sport. Instead on April 9 of this year, as he sat on the steps of his front porch waiting for Mom to come home from work, a man strode up, pumped at least six shots into him, shot another young man, then ran off into invisibility, because this one remains unsolved. Since Freddy gray died three days later, Tywaun is in danger of being forgotten. His father however, will be receiving his set of his son's artcards any day.
18-year old Tyquane Fetter's favorite sport was football. Here he is taking time out to give his mother some roses on Mother's day...or he might have if he wasn't shot dead Mother's Day 2014. No one has come forward with any idea who did this either!
Kevin Keon Smith arrives from twenty years ago, to give a partial answer about how long Police have been shooting black men. He's saying "Remember when this piece of s#*t was the latest in music technology? The boombox?" That's how long. All I needed to portray him was a cry of anguish from his still grieving...younger...sister.
Devin Cook's favorite sport was lacrosse. While attending classes at Morgan State, he worked at the Baltimore Zoo. This bright, cheerful 20-year old was driving some friends from playing a lacrosse game when shots rang out from sidewalk and struck Devin in the head. Was he the intended target? Until someone turns in that shooter, I don't know.
Yogesh Seth worked the deli counter at a local market in the Highlandtown area. Everybody called him "Joe". In early May, while the National Guard kept the tourist and downtown areas safe, two lads broke in intending to rob the place , met Joe, shot him and fled leaving him to bleed to death before help arrived. All they took was his friendly smile of greeting to the customers that loved him. He is another one who is in danger of being forgotten because of priorities. I'm sorry I never met him.
Young lovers Shatese Evans and Maurice Barfield are here because Shatese's sister asked me to paint them. They were coming home from a date when he got a call, drove to another section of town, got out to talk to a couple guys, then tried to run from the car when they shot him down. The first shooter then returned to the car and shot the young mother of two as she tried to hide in the back seat. Last month the shooter was sentenced to 30 years in jail for this double homicide.
Charles Bowman is the first marcher representing true seniors. At 72, he is the oldest marcher done to date. He worked the front desk at the Baltimore AfroAmerican newspaper as a security guard and greeter. His age was not a concern for the lad who shot him and robbed him of $13 as he walked to a Chinese food carryout to buy a supper after he got out of work. I wonder if, like he might, ask the question "After 5 years, does anyone at the AfroAmerican still remember me?"
Besides the Baltimore Ethical Society display, Tony Taliaferro from Southern Pennsylvania came to my house and made a 5 minute video about the show. Called "Remedy for the Soul", it will be going online soon. We are looking for small public venues in which to show it first. Tony Taliaferro is on Facebook and after my phone charges up I will comment with his website.
I am also aiming to have my own website up in about three weeks.
We're in it for the long haul! Onward!