I’ll Always Be Watching Out For You Portrait of Marcellius Rodgers-Younger by Laurie Lamont Murray

From the artist Laurie Lamont Murray; For this portrait, I worked from two photos sent to me by cell phone. Both showed Marcelius with his son, and it was for young Marcelius that his mother, Helen Jones, wanted to participate in the Souls Shot project. I didn't want to copy either photograph, since the family already has those images. So I combined features from both photos to create a portrait showing the special love and respect I sensed between father and son.

From the curator: This is a project that is not about “copy[ing] photograph[s]” and artists are charged with making portraits that communicate more than a likeness of the person and a sense of who they were. Laurie has done that in using the source material she had which included those all important stories told to us by the family and friends of the victims of gun violence.

I’ll Always Be Watching Out For You Portrait of Marcellius Rodgers-Younger by Laurie Lamont Murray acrylic on canvas 22” x 22” 2019