The following article was submitted by Orillia Secondary School student Sarah Acton Rinaldo.
Art is a powerful tool that can provide a visual voice, spark dialogue, and create change. In any medium, art has the potential to ask viewers to consider new perspectives. It can incite visceral feelings in people that in turn prompt thinking, discourse, and change.
This year in my Grade 11 Visual Arts class at Orillia Secondary School, one of our projects was to create a piece that represented a theme of a hero or an anti-hero. We could select an item or an individual, real or fictional.
We were given complete freedom in colour and dimension and could select whichever person or character that struck a chord within us.
A few months prior to the creation of my art piece, the number of Black Lives Matter protests across the world were at an all time high, and it was impossible to ignore the stories on the news and social media.
I had never seen this scale of protest in my lifetime. These numerous — and still ongoing — protests were triggered by the brutal and unlawful killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers on May 25.
George Floyd’s death was the final provocation that triggered a wave of international protests, to seek justice for George and the other countless victims of police brutality.
While I am aware that George Floyd is more of a victim than a hero in a white cape, I chose him to be the individual in my painting. His face will forever be symbolic of this valiant social movement to end racial discrimination and police brutality.
I wanted to make a visual statement that provided a voice to one that was taken away. To me, the combined strength and resilience of the individuals involved in these protests (and in previous civil rights protests) speaks of heroism. When my peers see George Floyd in my painting, I hope they take away the strength that is needed to stand up for what is right.
Having the chance to put my painting up in the school was an opportunity for me to contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement, as I was not able to attend a protest.
Even though my contribution is miniscule, I think it is important that everyone does their part and continues to educate themselves and others about injustice. It is vital to keep a dialogue going about racial injustices both within communities and on a global scale. As said by Martin Luther King Jr “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
