Death by Pigs

My piece “Death by Pigs” is a 14x17 inch piece made from charcoal and pastels. This piece is an illustration of a man sitting in his Lexus with his child sitting on his lap while three pigs are surrounding the car. The man is shown to have two visible bullet wounds: one through the mouth, with the exit wound taking off half of his jaw, and an entrance wound in his right elbow. Blood drips and runs down his face and over the tattoos on his arms. His blood is also splattered throughout the interior of the car as well as on the face of the child sitting close to his chest. The windshield is shattered with pieces of broken glass still hanging around the perimeter of the car window. The three pigs standing outside of the vehicle are wearing police uniforms while smirking at the man who is sitting lifeless in the vehicle while holding his child. These pigs have a sinister demeanor on their faces which is emphasized by the red misty background behind them. The dark values in the car create a dark atmosphere for such a horrific scene, and the man and his child are both wearing black in the same sense people wear the color black at funerals.

I chose to make this piece to showcase the forgotten and ignored horrors that this country still experiences to this day. The reoccurring issue of police brutality is treated like a popular trend to talk about but then forgotten the next day whenever something else starts trending. While the scene taking place in this piece is far too familiar to Black Americans, not everyone fully understands what the BLM movement has truly been fighting for. I want to show my audience the severity and the ugliness of these police shootings. I want this piece to act as a reminder that police officers do not have the right to determine whether someone lives or dies. I wanted to incorporate a child within this piece to show the humanity of the victim and the inhumane decision to take a person’s life. By showing that the man in this piece is a father I am saying that the victims of police shootings are loved and cherished just how we are also loved and cherished by our own children, mothers and fathers, siblings, friends, as well as significant others. At the end of the day, we all have someone waiting for us to come home, but far too many people never got the chance to see the faces of their loved ones because of these unjust killings. This piece is a reminder to everyone that this could happen to you or someone you love.

I am blessed to say that no one that I know has been beaten or killed due to police brutality but in the midst of making this piece so many people have opened up to me and voiced how they have lost someone or how someone they love has been wrongfully thrown in prison all because officers of the law abuse their power and act as judge, jury, and executioner. My heart goes out to everyone who has lost someone or has had their lives severely impacted because of this issue.

Not only was it my intention to spread awareness but it was also my intention to spark a conversation that needs to be had. Too many people believe that we hate cops and that we generalize every officer in the United States to be killer who abuses the power given to them by the state. However, that is not the case. The only thing that’s being asked for is justice and accountability. Everyone understands that not all cops are bad but the officers who abuse their power are hardly ever brought to justice and are even claimed to be justified in their actions due to the victims past/ record. This piece is not meant to spread anymore hatred than what’s already out there but rather to spread remorse and spark a human emotion. I want this world to be better just like everyone else; I just feel like the best way to show that is through my work.