Artist Statement

Change is Gonna Come

Bryce Roberts

My artwork includes nine black and white photos of the present day civil rights- Black Lives Matter Movement. These have been watercolored over on a white poster board. There are also pictures of some historic symbols of the civil rights movement throughout time such as SNCC, the Black Panther Party, the March on Washington, and photos of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. 

My piece is based on the Black Lives Matter protests that started in 2021. The photos I used are of the protests after Minneapolis policeman, Derek Chauvin, killed George Floyd by placing a knee on the back of his neck and pushing in until he died. The video captured of this event led to thousands of people across the country and the world protesting to protect black lives. 

I want people to feel bad for what George Floyd, Breona Taylor and countless others have had to go through. I want people to think about what all the African American community in the US has to go through. I can connect with this event because I have an uncle who lived in Massachusetts during the BLM protests, and while he was walking down the street during a BLM protest, he got stopped in the middle of the street by a police officer. This put fear in him, and made him scared because of what had happened. 

I hope my art piece helps people to think about and understand the seriousness of this issue. This is something we need to work on fixing as a country.