Vancouver Project Honours Black People Killed by Police

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The Black Lives Matter Memorial Project, which includes Toronto artist Cyrus Marcus Ware's portraits of Black people killed by police, is on view from July 26 to Aug. 2 at the Alternatives Gallery in Vancouver. 

Ware's 10 portraits are accompanied by text panels describing the people's lives and the circumstances of their deaths. They include George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, at the hands of police. A bystander's video of the arrest prompted widespread protests over police brutality. 

"We don't want any of these people to have their names forgotten, to pass into obliteration," Ware told CBC Radio. "We want to always remember that these people should be alive today."

The exhibition also includes a video of a new musical piece, black elegy, composed for the exhibition by Jason Ikeem Rodgers, founder of Atlanta-based Orchestra Noir.

The project, three years in the making, is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the B.C. Arts Council and the Vancouver Biennale. 

The gallery is located at 1659 Venables St. Admission is free.

Source: Vancouver Biennale