blm street art

Black Lives Matter

zeke morrison

George Floyd died on May 25, 2020. His death added to a series of racially motivated killings by police. Black Lives Matter protests sprung up all over the country, even reaching across the globe. As protesters took to the streets, artists around the Bay Area took to the biggest canvases they could find–the cities around them. And as protestors were armed with signs and flags, artists had equally powerful weapons in their arsenal: paints and brushes. From huge murals on storefronts to tiny tags on backstreets, artists made their voices heard. Despite their differences in medium, color, depiction, and size, one thing every piece shared was their call for change.

Using art as a tool for revolution isn’t a new phenomenon. From Picasso’s Guernica to Golub’s White Squad V, art has long been used as a medium for protest. In the last 30 years, however, street art and graffiti have made protest art more acessible to the masses. Vibrant colors and huge murals call out to passers by, inviting others to join the movement.

I found these murals in downtown San Jose. If you’d like to see them for yourself, they’re in Santa Clara.