Locked In
Artist Name: Tanitia Burton
Artist Statement
2020 came with the craziest events different from the typical ups and downs that many people are faced with, I guess what I’m saying is a lot of us have said at some point in time that we didn’t have many things in common with other indivisuals. One of the many things, 2020 assured us that one thing we all will have in common or this one particular topic the world will have in common is the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the fast spreading of the covid-19 virus which turned into a pandemic, New Yorkers were ultimately forced to shelter in place, “ locked down or quarantined” for only God knows how long. In the midst of all this covid mess and being “locked down” the cities were faced with this unfortunate situation; nevertheless, a familiar trend that was happening in New York was also happening in other cities and that was the killings of innocent black men and women by the hands of our police officers or from racist white individuals.
I call the killing of innocent black men and women by the hands of police officers a trend because as you turn on the television or looked at any other news media platform this is what’s being shown, another unarmed black man shot and killed by the police while yelling and crying for help, police officers shot and killed another unarmed black man in front of his kids while they are in the car and now we have a young black man hunted then shot and killed by a racist father and son while he went out for his morning jog.
So why not create a monument that will show what’s going on or what has gone on in the year of 2020. I will also say that creating this monument was very emotional for Kayla, Amelia, Ruby and myself, Why? Because we either know individuals who have been affected or we know someone who knows someone who was affected by this horrible virus, also whether we experienced racism or know someone who has experienced any violent act of cruelty just because of being a black person affects us all.
