Like many people, businesses and organisations around the world, we at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, recognise that now, more than ever, we need to use our platform to spread the message of anti-racism and to give a voice to those that need to be heard. Rather than posting a black square, we are choosing to share ‘Black Painting’ by African-American artist #KerryJamesMarshall.
The painting depicts the Chicago bedroom of Black Panther members #FredHampton and #AkuaNjeri on 4th December 1969, minutes before it was raided by the Chicago Police Department who fired up to 99 shots killing Fred, aged 21. It took approximately 20 years for the City of Chicago to pay a financial settlement to Fred’s family, but they still did not admit any wrongdoing for the raid organised by Chicago’s district attorney, with help from the FBI.
Kerry James Marshall is known for his large-scale paintings, sculptures and other objects that use African-American life and history as their subject matter. Being born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1955 and later raised in Los Angeles, where his home was near the Black Panthers’ headquarters, left him with a feeling of social responsibility that directly fed into his work. Strongly influenced by these experiences, he developed a signature style that involved the use of extremely dark, essentially black figures. His work represents his perspective of African Americans, specifically black men with separate and distinct inner and outer appearances.
Image: Black Painting, 2003 - 2006, Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York ... See MoreSee Less
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