The area of social justice I chose to comment on was police brutality/ black lives matter. I painted Eric Garner to be the face of the meaning behind my artwork. Since the beginning of 2017, 190 black men have been killed by the police in the United States. Police brutality is has been around since the justice system began- and it especially targets black men who are almost always killed wrongfully. I chose this issue because it is something I feel passionate about and something I get very fired up about. It affects me very when I hear on the news that yet another black man was wrongfully killed and the policeman/woman will not be charged, and most likely not even suspended. I chose to paint Eric Garner because on July 17, 2014 he was choked to death by Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico of the NYPD, after he said “I can’t breathe” 11 times. He was killed for selling untaxed loose cigarettes.
I used white and black to paint my portrait. I used these colours to symbolize the constant conflict between white and black people. I used the text “i can't breathe” to try and express to viewers how wrong Eric’s death was.
The image does not hold personal significance to me, but it does make me not only feel sad, but also angry that his life was taken away.
Reflecting on my stylistic qualities on this project, I really enjoy how the piece came out. I think I did well using the painterly technique and I’m happy that the end result actually looks like him.
I don’t however like how the text came out. I wasn’t very good at using the text paper transfer and I had to try and fix it with marker. I was also a bit careless and glued one of the “I can’t breathe”s upside down. Next time, I would just paint the writing on instead.
Social Justice Painting
