Lawyer – Protesters Against Police Violence Express the Message Through Art in Houston, Texas – Part 2
At Art League Houston, a multimedia art show called How Do I Say Her Name? is on display until May 6, 2017; it has been up since March 24. The work of nine Texas women is on exhibit in the display. The women are Ann Johnson, Monica Villarreal, Lovie Olivia, Kaneem Smith, Regina Agu, Lauren Kelley, Rabéa Ballin, Rosine Kouman, and Autumn Knight. The purpose of the exhibit is to raise awareness of alleged police brutality against women of color.
The name of the exhibit acknowledges the #SayHerName campaign of the African American Policy Forum (AAPF), which has the same goal as the women involved in the Art League display. The forum released documents last year regarding almost 70 cases since 2012 of African American women dying allegedly as a result of police violence.
Like Johnson, as mentioned in Part 1, Villarreal highlighted Bland’s story. On a pink mural, Bland’s silhouette is drawn as an outline in which people can use silver pens to write their own experiences of alleged police brutality.
One artistic piece, by Ballin, is a bright neon light flashing and spelling out the alphanumeric case number of Sandra Bland, from police records. Her point, she says, is to highlight her perception that criminal statistics often rob women of their identities.
Artist Smith says women started the Black Lives Matter movement. She believes women are devalued summarily at every occasion, though she perceives that they are always at the forefront of protest marches, such as those against alleged police brutality.
–Guest Contributor
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