Completion Date: (Sept 7th)
Location: 28 N 20th St
Richmond, VA 23223

Lead Photographer: Katrina Taggart-Hecksher

This piece was created in real time using the inspiration from the history of Shockoe Bottom and the mission of Mending Walls (BlackLivesMatter). Shockoe Bottom was home to the second largest slave trade on the East Coast. We chose fish that are native to the James River ecosystem to construct the images of the two figures. One of the figures is a representation of Solomon Northup, famous author known for penning Twelve Years a Slave, who was traded as a slave through Shockoe Bottom before being shipped to Louisiana. His image in the mural depicts an ancestor.  His fist rising out of the coral represents the struggles that are happening underneath the water to support the next generation’s uprising. The image in the upper left corner is a representation of Jacob Blake, a 29 year old African American Wisconsin man who recently surfaced into the media spotlight when he was shot by a police officer in August seven times and barely survived.  This shooting has left Blake paralized from the waist down.  His image is represented by an emergence pressing out of the water trying to breathe as the struggles of life are happening underneath and around him. He is barely able to catch his breath.

In the context of the local and national uprising against police brutality and racial injustice, we considered how public art can add to the effort. Many of the problems, hardship, anguish, experiences, emotion that we discussed have been part of the conversation for decades – which makes it hard to see the benefit of sharing those painful personal stories. It was important to us not to gloss over reality with pleasantry, so we wanted to use those hard situations as a bedrock layer that is sculpted into a message of hope and change. Flip the script to what you want to see, and strive for it: I can breathe because I know that my concerns and problems are being heard and addressed are going to create change.