3 minute read
Nancy Tully
Names, whether of a person or thing, are integral to human nature. Names lend identity. In the case of Lost Legacies, a name is a marker of loss, an unnecessary and senseless loss. According to In Memoriam: I Can’t Breathe, an online memoriam compiled by Dr. Renée Ater of the University of Maryland, one hundred and seventy one unarmed black and brown people lost their lives at the hands of the police between 1968 and 2021. Lost Legacies records those names, and hopefully provides some kind of marker for the lives that have been lost to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends.
In the midst of the protests following the deaths of Breanna Taylor and George Floyd, I watched in distress as racial protests unfolded across the country. Mired in the pandemic, I felt helpless to affect any kind of change. But my passion for social justice led me to delve into the history of the relationship between people of color and the police.
Ultimately, what I discovered were missing pieces that prompted two essential questions. Namely, in the forty-two years from 1968 to 2009, forty-two deaths were recorded. However, in the ten years between 2010 and 2019, one hundred and nine deaths were recorded. What accounts for such a disparity?
It is this disparity that is at the heart of Lost Legacies. What started happening in 2010? I contend that cell phone video, police video and social media have dramatically affected our understanding of the deeply ingrained nature of racism within the police departments throughout the United States. The hard truth of racism has been clearly visible for the last twelve years for anyone who chooses to look. And nowhere was that hard truth more visible than on the day that George Floyd was murdered.
Ultimately, I was left with two questions – how many unknown deaths have been hidden from view and how many more will take place before change occurs? For the sake of all people of color, especially those who have lost their loved ones, I can only hope that change happens sooner rather than later.
I am incredibly thankful to my family and friends who collaborated with me on this project.
Lost Legacies 2022 40” x 91” Fiber/Paper Mixed Media NFS
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Jane Dunnewold teaches and lectures internationally, and has mounted numerous solo artist exhibitions. She has authored a dozen books, including the classic Complex Cloth (1996), Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design on Fabric (2010), and Creative Strength Training: Prompts, Exercises and Stories to Inspire Artistic Genius (2016).
She showcases art processes on YouTube and offers art classes online, including a ten-month Creative Strength Training Immersion program focused on strengthening your personal artistic visual language.
