What Can Art Do?

I am just back from filming the interview that ran on FOX29 during their morning show Good Day Philadelphia. We were at Logan Library where the 2019-2020 portraits are hanging,. There was not a dry eye in the room during the filming and as I watched it later the anchors were tearing up, as well. One question I was asked (not aired this morning but hopefully will be part of a story to be shown during the news tonight) was “why is this project important?”. The wonderful photographer, Greg Gilroy, actually had to ask me twice. The short answer is that the gun violence epidemic we are in the midst of is shameful and destructive. Artwork, our artworks, connect people, in a way that other ways don’t, to the truly tragic nature of this devastation. Viewers, experiencers, are moved to their core and join the movement to end this violent plague.

I would like to share what I learned from my conversation with the artist Chenoa McDonald about the making of her portrait of Niam. K. Johnson-Tate, Niam’s Crown of Life, as an example of the care taken by our artists to infuse their portraits with the essence of the lives of the souls we portray.

As you approach this portrait and move around the space in front of it, you notice that the light dramatically changes the surfaces, the textures, the facial and body expression. The graphite drawing, which is his face and body almost flickers as it reflects from different angles. Moving outward from his figure you enter a blue field, a deep, rich blue field. Again, as you move around, the light plays on the gold glitter subtly added to the blue. . Arriving at the crown on Niam’s head you encounter the actual jewels that McDonald added for yet another dimension and light manipulator. She told me that she chose to use graphite, a very basic, organic medium for his corporeal body, and moved on to more precious materials and colors as she moved beyond the body. The blue, symbolizes nobility, as does the crown. Blue was also Niam’s favorite color. The seven jewels on his seven pointed crown symbolize the seven people given life thanks to Niam’s selfless donation of his organs. While our goal is to focus on the lives, many of our artists add elements such as those used by McDonald to elude to the next dimension entered by these souls and to indicate that they retain a certain power even though they are no longer with us on earth. This portrait, not traditional nor realistic in style, speaks volumes about this young man and pulls the viewer into a touching experience.

This is why the Souls Shot Portrait Project is important. We artists have the power to bring life to souls no longer with us in a way that connects them to us, that speaks to us, that commands us to do something about this unacceptable situation where gun violence is out of control.

Laura Madeleine

Niam’s Crown of Life! Portrait of Niam K. Johnson-Tate by Chenoa McDonald acrylic, graphite, on wood 27” x 28” 2019