Unbreakable Bond (Dad) Portrait of Hakeem Jamal Bryant by Monique Sarkessian

From Hakeem’s mother Eva Bryant: “A loving father gone forever.” “My soul is divided and so is my joy . . . . .Eternally”

From the artist Monique Sarkessian: This exhibition is magnified in importance as every day more lives are lost in our communities due to cowardly and pointless gun violence.

The separation of death between loved ones is excruciating as if the punishment of a loved one being murdered wasn't enough, the recurring waves of devastation, loss and grief mercilessly remind us of the part of our hearts that has been torn away every day. Death has ripples, a not so gentle wave that reaches out ever farther into our communities way past the original person whose life was taken, into their families, extended families, circle of friends, workplaces, towns, states, nations. We are all connected in this universe and are all affected by violence in some part with the incidents far too numerous and close for us to ever feel safe again. One person murdered is someone's child, those parents grieve a far deeper grief than can be known. That child is as our child each soul as important as any, each death a terrible tragedy ripping families apart. 

From the curator: Monique’s use of wax, encaustic, to seal this charming image intensifies its warmth. Her words above capture so accurately the devastation felt by so many by the loss of just one soul. Our project focuses on the lives lived to illustrate the importance of what was lost. We aim to bring people to a place of empathy and move them to take action. My heart is aching as I write this amidst the national outpouring of angry grief at yet another death of a person of color. While guns were not the issue in all of the recent blatant cases of racism, it is clear that certain groups of people are effected unequally by violence of all sorts. It is evident in our portraits. Most who are represented in our portraits, were not afforded the treatment, the rights, the empathy, the credence, the respect they deserve as human beings in so many ways and for way, way too long a time. We will keep working peacefully but passionately to reach that time when no more adorable little girls with colorful bouncing barrettes will have to mourn her dad.

Unbreakable Bond (Dad) Portrait of Hakeem Jamal Bryant by Monique Sarkessian charcoal, encaustic, wax and mixed media on paper 18” x 24” 2018