Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in New York City, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in New York City, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
In addition to street murals, cultural organizations transformed their facades into canvasses for Black Lives Matter. These included: The Africa Center, the Daryl Roth Theatre, and St. Ann's Warehouse's Supremacy Project. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Some organizations, including the Museum of the City of New York mounted temporary public art installations that highlighted the intersections between the BLM protests and the COVID-19 pandemic. [5]
A bust of George Floyd was unveiled and installed at Flatbush Junction (at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Nostrand Avenue) in Flatbush, Brooklyn in June, 2021 coinciding with Juneteenth. [6] After a month in the Flatbush location, the bust moved to Union Square, Manhattan. [6] While in Brooklyn, the bust was vandalized with black spray paint. The bust was quickly restored. [7]
On June 9, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to rename and paint in each of the five boroughs of New York City in honor of Black Lives Matter in consultation with city leaders, advocates, and the city council. He stated "It's time to do something officially representing this city to recognize the power of the fundamental idea of Black Lives Matter, the idea that so much of American history has wrongly renounced, but now must be affirmed." [8] [9] [10] Efforts were made to have the murals reflect their locations, as well as the overall movement. [11]
On June 14, volunteers painted "Black Lives Matter" in yellow along Fulton Street in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. [12] The second mural was painted on June 19 along Richmond Terrace on the North Shore of Staten Island between the borough hall and a police precinct. [13]
Plans were stated for murals along 153rd Street in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Center Street in Manhattan, and Morris Avenue in the Bronx. [14] Two additional murals were planned for Manhattan, including one on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower, reminiscent of the original mural in front of the White House. [15] The plan for Fifth Avenue was criticized by Donald Trump, as he called it a "symbol of hate" and criticized Blasio for defunding the police by $1 billion while authorizing the mural. [16] [17] The mural on Fifth Avenue was painted on July 9, 2020, with help from Mayor de Blasio and members of the Central Park Five. [18] [19]
The 4 Lexington Avenue Express is a rapid transit service in the A Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored forest green since it uses the IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan.
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, and on the south by Avenue P and Kings Highway. The eastern border consists of parts of Nostrand Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and Coney Island Avenue; parts of McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway mark the western boundary.
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and Prospect Expressway to the south. Generally, the section from Flatbush Avenue to Garfield Place is considered the "North Slope", the section from 1st through 9th Streets is considered the "Center Slope", and south from 10th Street, the "South Slope". The neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary commercial streets, while its east–west side streets are lined with brownstones and apartment buildings.
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the Long Island Rail Road's Bay Ridge Branch to the south; and the neighborhood of Flatbush and Nostrand/New York Avenues to the west. East Flatbush is a predominantly African American neighborhood and has a population of 135,619 as of the 2010 United States Census.
Utica Avenue is a major avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. It is one of several named for the city of Utica in Upstate New York. It runs north–south and occupies the position of East 50th Street in the Brooklyn street grid, with East 49th Street to its west and East 51st Street to its east for most of its path. The south end of Utica Avenue is at Flatbush Avenue; its north end is at Fulton Street, beyond which it is continued by Malcolm X Boulevard in Bedford–Stuyvesant. Malcolm X Boulevard continues to Broadway, where it terminates on Broadway between Lawton Street and Hart Street.
Since 1963, New York City has been using a system of bus lanes that are intended to give priority to buses, which contain more occupants than passenger and commercial vehicles. Most of these lanes are restricted to buses only at certain days and times, but some bus lanes are restricted 24/7. As of May 2021, there are 138.4 miles (222.7 km) of bus lanes within New York City.
George Floyd protests in New York City took place at several sites in each of the five New York City boroughs, starting on May 28, 2020, in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. Most of the protests were peaceful, while some sites experienced protester and/or police violence, including several high-profile incidents of excessive force. Looting became a parallel issue, especially in Manhattan. As a result, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the city was placed under curfew from June 1–7, the first curfew in the city since 1943. The protests catalyzed efforts at police reform, leading to the criminalization of chokeholds during arrests, the repeal of 50-a, and other legislation. Several murals and memorials have been created around the city in George Floyd's honor, and demonstrations against racial violence and police brutality continue as part of the larger Black Lives Matter movement in New York City.
Black Lives Matter Plaza is a two-block-long pedestrian section of 16th Street NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. The plaza was renamed by Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 5, 2020, after the Department of Public Works painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in 35-foot (11 m) yellow capital letters, along with the flag of Washington, D.C., during the series of George Floyd protests taking place in the city.
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in Portland, Oregon, United States, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans. Oregon Arts Watch contextualized the artistic works, stating that a "whitewashed pre-COVID lens" on American life, which obscured systemic racism, had been "cracked", and describing artists' response to racial violence being brought into the public eye was a "marathon, not a sprint".
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement have been created. These works are either seen as a direct tribute to those who have died or more broadly to the movement. Often the pieces are created in the streets as to be more publicly visible. As such several attempts have been made at preserving the art created in protest on the basis of their artistic merit and cultural significance. Increasingly, the erasure of the artwork has been a problem for preservationists. As such, the artworks below represent a fraction of the works created.
New York City has been the site of many Black Lives Matter protests in response to incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The Black Lives Matter movement began as a hashtag after the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin, and became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Garner was killed in the Staten Island borough of New York City, leading to protests, demonstrations, and work towards changes in policing and the law. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, the global response included extensive protests in New York City, and several subsequent changes to policy.
The Black Lives Matter street muralin Indianapolis is a large, colorful mural reading "#BLACKLIVESMATTER", with a raised fist, that 18 artists painted across a downtown roadway in August 2020, as part of the George Floyd protests. The mural is located on Indiana Avenue, the historic hub of the city's Black culture, on the same corner as the Madam C. J. Walker Building.
In August 2020, eight artists painted a Black Lives Matter street mural in Salt Lake City's Washington Square Park, outside the Salt Lake City and County Building, in the U.S. state of Utah. The city had commissioned the painting with a contest "to support and memorialize the national movement to eliminate systemic racism".
The bust of George Floyd is a sculpture of George Floyd (1973–2020), an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer during his arrest in Minneapolis. It is situated in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The sculpture sits on a marble base, with the 6-foot (1.8 m) bust being made of layers of CNC-cut okoumé plywood. It was created by artist Chris Carnabuci and unveiled by Floyd's brother Terrence, as part of the 2021 Juneteenth federal holiday, saying "My brother was the sacrifice, so I need y'all to continue to pay attention and keep my big brother's name ringing in the ears of everyone."
On June 18, 2020, Nick Lloyd painted the phrase "Black Lives Matter" in large bright yellow block letters on North Edison Street in Portland, Oregon's St. Johns neighborhood.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural has been painted in Santa Cruz, California.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural has been painted in Springfield, Massachusetts.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural was painted in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington in June 2020.
George Floyd was an African American man who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. He was memorialized via events, protests, artwork installations, organizations, official designations, and campaigns.
