鈥楾he city becomes a canvas for storytelling.鈥� How Baltimore is honoring Freddie Gray.
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Ira Porter Staff writer
| Baltimore
Halfway through a warm but breezy day, the assembly hall of the Baltimore War Memorial is packed with visitors. They have come to admire, experience, and shop for art from more than 40 local artists participating in , a festival that draws thousands of people annually to the downtown area. There is photography, sculpture, abstract and derivative art of famous people like Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone, and reconceptualized comic book covers.
At the Quid Nunc Art Gallery鈥檚 station, several paintings of Pinocchio reimagined as a Black child stand out. He is controlled, surveilled, and undermined all while proclaiming Black Lives Matter. Artist Keila Evans originally painted four Pinocchio paintings in honor of her fellow Baltimorean, Freddie Gray.
鈥淚 felt a lot of emotions and feelings after the riots with Freddie Gray, over the course of the years, being a single mom with a Black son, just trying to figure out a way to conjure something I can put on canvas that was relatable,鈥� says Ms. Evans.
Why We Wrote This
Black Americans have long turned to art in response to racial injustice and structural violence. To honor Freddie Gray, Baltimore artists took to canvas and sculpture this summer to commemorate his life and memory. Part of an occasional series.
Mr. Gray died 10 years ago after he suffered a fatal spinal injury while shackled during a violent van ride with Baltimore Police officers. Police had claimed he had a switchblade, but the city鈥檚 attorney later said that was not true. After a medical examiner ruled Mr. Gray鈥檚 death a , it sparked an uprising that pit police and Baltimore city leaders against a city of frustrated denizens 鈥� many of them Black 鈥� protesting being killed by police with what they saw as impunity. The riots and protests led to the National Guard being deployed in the city.
Baltimore artists got to work after Mr. Gray鈥檚 death. In a series of 10-year-anniversary gatherings this summer, they are commemorating his life through art.
鈥淏altimore in general is a place of survivors and survival,鈥� says Derrick Adams, a visual and performing artist and curator.
Art is another aspect of storytelling, documenting what has happened in the Black community, says Mr. Adams. His art has been displayed in museums across the U.S., and his work has been featured in TV shows such as Fox鈥檚 鈥淓mpire鈥� and HBO鈥檚 鈥淚nsecure.鈥�
鈥淏ecause there鈥檚 so many places that artists can tell their story, the city becomes a canvas for storytelling,鈥� he continues.
Black Americans have long turned to art in response to racial injustice and structural violence. The Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s fostered cultural identity and racial pride. It challenged stereotypes through various forms of art and literature and added to the flame that became the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. At that time, activists and politicians partnered with prominent artists to push the cause forward for social justice.
Mr. Gray鈥檚 name runs like a line in a song of many others such as Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. Baltimoreans interviewed say it hurt when three of the officers charged with Mr. Gray鈥檚 death were and the other three had their charges dropped. Some kept creating art to express their grief and hurt and to challenge narratives.
Mr. Gray died five years before George Floyd鈥檚 murder by Minneapolis police was captured on video. The Black Lives Matter movement, which began in 2012 after Trayvon Martin鈥檚 killing in Florida, erupted nationwide with the largest protests since the Civil Rights Movement. This year, the country has reflected on five years since Mr. Floyd鈥檚 murder, which led to a temporary change of consciousness. There were attempts at social justice reform, philanthropy, and reconciliation. But those interviewed point to that show killings by police are up.
Public art as memorial
At the corner of North Mount and Presbury streets, in Baltimore鈥檚 Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, where Mr. Gray was arrested, a mural was created to honor him. It depicts a clean-shaven Mr. Gray flanked by civil rights icons on one side and Black Lives Matter protesters on the other. Another more recent mural just blocks away shows a sideways profile of his face with pieces of a puzzle missing from the landscape. Writing across the mural reads 鈥淧ower of The People,鈥� with marchers in raised fists standing beneath the letters.
Mr. Gray鈥檚 death brought national media to Baltimore. Their words, videos, and films portrayed a city on the brink. They also brought to life the disinvestment in certain communities there, says Mr. Adams.
The protests also launched the careers of artists, like . In 2015, Mr. Allen was an amateur photographer whose images of people in the street running from police were used by Time magazine. Ten years later, the Baltimore Museum of Art is featuring 35 of his images in an that runs through Sept. 21.
A pictorial history
In the Penn North neighborhood, where the riots started after Mr. Gray鈥檚 death, murals have been erected and local artists have been called to duty. They have through song, art, dance, and poetry.
鈥淎rtists actually create images ... that end up in the media, end up in news outlets, that would not necessarily end up in news outlets if artists did not take the lead by creating imagery that provokes people to respond,鈥� says Mr. Adams. He calls it pictorial history.
For the 10th anniversary of Mr. Gray鈥檚 death, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott at a memorial for Mr. Gray at one of his murals, alongside Mr. Gray鈥檚 twin sister, Fredricka, who placed a wreath at the site. He acknowledged Baltimore鈥檚 troubled history, but said that police have cut in half their use-of-force stats and that police-involved shootings were 67% since Mr. Gray鈥檚 death. Violent crime is down in the city, according to police .
Baltimore also kicked off the 鈥溾�� initiative, which is aimed at youth engagement. This summer, the city is offering 42 camps and 29 literacy programs. Nine recreation centers have extended hours until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, pools will be open, and there will be block parties for city officials to engage with residents. A Gray family attorney said that he hoped people would be inspired by the art created after Mr. Gray鈥檚 passing.
鈥淪ometimes when people go through trauma there鈥檚 not always a voice that comes up with what they鈥檝e experienced ... so art becomes this tool that鈥檚 used to express those things that can鈥檛 be verbalized,鈥� says LaToya Pegram, a licensed art therapist, and board member of the American Art Therapy Association.
Art like the murals celebrating Mr. Gray鈥檚 life and highlighting structural problems can be less combative than someone yelling in your face, she says.
鈥淎rt can be used as a challenge, or a use of advocacy as a means to dismantle,鈥� Ms. Pegram says. 鈥淚 think art can be used this way because it almost creates an externalized, tangible object that can be projected onto. I feel like it鈥檚 a less threatening way to combat what鈥檚 being resisted.鈥�
For this summer鈥檚 commemorations, Mr. Adams curated the Scout Art Fair at Artscape. It was a family affair with craft and food vendors, a speaker series, and a concert headlined by Grammy-winning singer Fantasia.
鈥淭he idea of being a commercial artist and having a gallery is not as easily attainable as an artist taking it to the street and responding to society and responding to the way that they think things should be,鈥� Mr. Adams says.
The next step for Baltimore artists, he says, is to capitalize on their art while raising their voices.
Ms. Evans says she鈥檚 trying to do that, but sometimes art touches her spirit so much she can鈥檛 part with it.
鈥淢onetizing is important when it comes to those opportunities, to be able to express yourself, not only hone your craft, but also allow others into your world,鈥� she reflects. 鈥淭hat way you can bring the community onto what you鈥檙e doing.鈥�
She kept one of her four Pinocchio paintings for herself. In it, Pinocchio鈥檚 grown, dressed in a lavender short set and pink bowtie. Hands at his side, he is unattached to the cords that hold him in place. A police command stops him. 鈥淔reeze!!! Put your hands up!!鈥� But Jiminy Cricket is there to remind him to always remain calm, and to be polite and respectful so as to not make matters worse.
鈥淚 got to experience that through my twin brother being pulled over by the police and coming home crying, racially profiled, wrongfully accused, as well as other Black males that are not necessarily family, but students that I鈥檝e taught,鈥� Ms. Evans remembers.
The process of creating was healing for her, she says, and more important than selling art, people started talking.
鈥淭hat was a moment in time where enough was enough during the Freddie Gray riots,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t forced me to go into that mold.鈥�
Earlier entries in our series:
July 7: 鈥楾hat鈥檚 the warrior spirit.鈥� Why Valerie Castile is determined to honor her son.
May 21: George Floyd鈥檚 family lawyer thinks the path to justice is 鈥榤ore daunting than ever鈥�
May 18: George Floyd鈥檚 murder sparked a reckoning on race. But did America change?
