Earlier this year, the police killing of George Floyd shocked the world. A white police officer killed Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. People took to the streets with a swell of emotion, activism—and art. Following this brutal police killing, among many others, including those of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery (uh-MAWD AHR-bree), artists all over the world created art in support of Black Lives Matter. Last summer, steps from the Scholastic offices in New York City, artists created numerous public works, spreading awareness about racism and police violence while amplifying Black voices.
Most of the artists whose work is on these pages used boarded-up storefronts as canvases. In the collage above, New York artist Erin Ko incorporates text and a sketch of the Black author James Baldwin. Many of the artists use familiar images, like the American flag, football player turned activist Colin Kaepernick kneeling, and a wounded figure in the style of artist Henri Matisse, as symbols. They draw attention to racial inequality and violence in America.
A Black artist, Harry Robinson, teamed up with a white artist, Eric Junker, to create a mural in Los Angeles, top right. The large-scale public work features Floyd, Taylor, and Arbery. Robinson and Junker also include a message urging people to vote in the presidential election on November 3. In this work, they honor Black lives and hope to remind viewers to vote for justice and social change in November.