Don't Shoot

Artist Statement

Don’t Shoot

Gabe

This piece is a take on the American flag. I used a cardboard stencil to spray paint wood that had been painted with gray floor paint.

I created this piece to help people realize the problems with police brutality in some parts of our country. It shows a man standing in the blue field blocking all but a few stars. His hands are raised in a position typical of being at gunpoint. It also shows the image of Colin Kaepernick, the NFL player, kneeling during his protests. All of this is displayed inside the American flag.

When I chose to research freedom of expression, I found a site mapping police violence since the beginning of 2017. As I started researching police brutality, I kept going back to this site and the number kept rising and rising. I found it outrageous how many killings happened in 2017.

I got inspired to make this piece because almost 2000 people were killed by police officers in the United States in the past two years. The database also showed the names and ages of the victims. Some of these victims were as young as 16 to 18 years old, some of them were unarmed, and some of them had toy weapons. It is my hope that people might understand Kaepernick’s protests a little better and that this piece will bring attention to the fact that something should be done about police brutality.