About the #BlackLivesMatter Art Series by Katie Wohl

Katie Wohl’s art series “Black Lives Matter - Black Voices,” was inspired by the frustration and sadness she experienced and saw her community experience after Michael Brown was murdered on August 9, 2014, by Darrell Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department. After years of watching countless black men and women murdered by police officers, security guards and vigilantes in America art became an important outlet. Around the same time, Brown was murdered ALS began a Viral Fundraising Campaign Wohl couldn’t help but notice that her social media was giving plenty of attention to the ALS campaign by her caucasian Facebook friends, but hardly any mention from the same group about Michael Brown’s murder. Nor were they giving media attention to the protests in Ferguson. This disparity in the level of concern being shown was even more upsetting. So she created art that would not only act as a therapeutic vehicle for her, but that she hoped might resonate with a larger community of people who are taking an active role in the problems in their society and maybe even garner attention from those who remained blind to the structural and institutional issues of race in America. And that by selling her work, she could then donate the proceeds to the National Police Accountability Project. She then started designing black and white portraits of black men and women using quotes from black female writers.

She began with the work of Zora Neale Hurston using her famous quote: “If you are silent about your pain they'll kill you, and say you enjoyed it.” From there, her aesthetic for the series was set into motion. Each portrait would feature black and white triangles as well as a face that would be covered by relevant quotes. Her series would include authors such as Ida B.Wells-Barnett, Toni Morrison, Bell Hooks, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou and Edwidge Danticat.

In her series, which still, unfortunately, is updated by new victims of police brutality and institutionalized racism, so far the series has included: Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Freddie Gray, and Sandra Bland. Her designs can be found on art prints, tee-shirts, and cell phone cases. All proceeds are donated to the National Police Accountability Project.