The Power of Words

I have a group of friends who every Sunday afternoon go outside and line the street out front of our building holding up signs with the name of an unarmed Black person slain by police. Tamar Rice, Jacob Blake, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor. Unfortunately the list grows every week. Some of the names are easily recognizable, but some are not—but behind every name is a story, a whole life, cut short.

There is power in these names. I know because of the reaction, positive and negative directed toward those holding the signs.

So as much as I mentioned in my last post that I’ve never been big on artwork with words (artwords) I see now how it can move the viewer, and hopefully enable change.

Much of Corita’s art was motivated by her commitment to messages and reaching people through the medium of silk screens.

Sister Corita saw the intersection of art, justice, and the sacred. I speculate/wonder what she would do today with BLM, Black Lives Matter, how she would illustrate those words, bring them to life, portray racial and unequal justice. She believed that art and God would save the world. One print, with one brush stroke at a time.

Our faulty, flailing attempts are in fact brave, drawing us out of our comfort zone and into another space. 

My series on Corita inspired by:

CORITA KENT. ART AND SOUL. THE BIOGRAPHY.

By April Dammann

Published by Angel City Press, 160 pages, $40

To read the entire series, Search Corita Kent or click on tags.