Philadelphia Chapter 8th Annual Exhibition Opens

On Friday night, November 1, a standing room only crowd viewed the portraits of souls taken by gun violence in the beautiful Widener Hall at Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. There were family, friends, artists, and neighbors sharing joyful memories, celebrating the lives lived, and mourning what could have been. Lilting flute music, provided by Jeremy Katz, was the backdrop for the first part of the evening while guests had the chance to experience the many beautiful artworks. A program of speakers, whose messages were moving calls to action, followed. The evening ended with song as Rebecca Thornburgh, accompanied by her husband David Thornburgh, led everyone in “Amazing Grace.” Here are some excerpts from the speakers:

From founder and director Laura Madeleine:

“I thought of three words as I was preparing theses remarks: Gratitude, shame, hope.

I have gratitude. I am grateful for our artists: Their passion, dedication, and talent combine to give us these incredible portraits. Their ability to listen and absorb and get to know someone they could never meet is extraordinary.

I am grateful for our families: They are gracious and brave to agree to meet a perfect stranger and share their intimate stories and joyful memories even as they grieve.

I have shame.

I am ashamed that this country refuses to address the public health crisis, the failure of public policy, and the systemic racism that lies beneath the rampant gun violence that affects everyone. Each of these souls represent a shooting that happened because there was a gun available. The reasons were, frankly, stupid. Thanks to the presence of a gun “Bill the Thrill” will no longer hand out food at the local food bank, John John will not go back to Disney with his favorite cousin, Marvin is not around to explain to his children why, on earth, he adopted a gorilla, Stephen won’t come over and steal the remote, Rah Rah will not be driving his beloved Volvo, and Jasiyah will not be wearing her favorite sparkly shirt to kindergarten any more.

I have hope.

We have to have hope. These souls speak through these images and, as they travel this next year around Philadelphia, the surrounding area, and to the State Capital, they will speak to the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who will visit this exhibition. Theses people will not leave unmoved. Thanks to these powerful artworks, these people will not leave without a new connection to the issue of gun violence and, hopefully, will not leave without a plan to help find a solution.”

From Janine Lieberman, artist and herself a victim of a shooting:

“Tonight I am a speaker and a listener. (I’m listening to the voices all around me….)

And I am also a survivor of gun violence as well as an artist in the show here. 

(A note about….) Time and Place: 

My self-portrait in this exhibition shows you these two images: me today and me back when I was shot - hidden behind the layers of time and paint. 

For it was in 1965 when this happened to me, at the age of 18. And it didn’t happen here, in Philadelphia. it took place in northern California. So, our epidemic here, as you well know, is not unique. And the act of people ending their unsolvable problems with a burst of violence is not new either.

I think about the mind of the man who pulled the trigger on me and my friend, Michael, killing him and injuring me. This state of mind must be like that of a person at the moment they decide to kill themselves. They see no way out. The problem seems unsolvable. And with no way out, only a burst/a bomb/an explosion can bring about the needed punctuation mark.

So, when I first heard about the Souls Shot Portrait Project in Philadelphia, I knew immediately I wanted to contribute, that I could identify with a family who had lost someone. (I had also lost a good friend.) I was assigned a family and I drew a picture of a twenty-year-old young woman who wore braids in her hair that day. Her mother had done them up just that morning, the morning before she was killed. Her name was Jasmine. They called her Jas. 

It occurred to me later that a self-portrait might be appropriate for one of these exhibitions. Laura Madeleine, the Curator and Director of our Project, agreed and welcomed it. 

For those of you who have ever made a self-portrait, you know it is a process of discovery, not without a little bit of anguish at self-representation. I look back at who I was then. I see who I am now. I want to pull together my inner dialogue from the two into one monologue that describes me today, that merges my past and my present - like tying up the circle of my life. 

From the adversity that I experienced I gained a greater empathy for others, and the compassion to act on that feeling. When we strongly identify with others, we truly know that the other is US. 

Ironically the day that my friend Michael died, he and I had had a long conversation on the lawn of the college where we were students together. We were both quite satisfied with the new-found depth of our friendship. And that afternoon, before the later evening when we would meet up again, for the last time, he said to me, 

“Today I am a happy man. If I die today, I die a happy man.”   He was 22.

I could never have imagined that my experience so long ago would result in a future like this that we have today. 

Assassinations

Personal Vendettas

Random Shootings

The only recourse I see is to learn how to act politically, for we are all under one very large system that relies on that structure. 

This Project we have here, tonight, focuses on the people, takes it out of the political realm. That is the focus of Souls Shot. We are looking at the human cost in the faces of the portraits, in the faces of the family and friends who come to this event. 

Still, we know this, right here, is a political act and we hope that by coming together it will help to elevate the ideas and solutions we need to prevent further tragedies like those that you, yourselves, may have endured.

Though you have probably heard talks like this before, please know that I thank you for listening because this moment provides me with a kind of closure, a kind of closure I have been seeking for a very long time.

Thank you.”

The rapt crowd listening to speakers at the opening reception, November 1, 2024 in Widener Hall, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill.