Apr 21, 20221 min

A Catholic Tribute to Clyde Ross

By Michael Jezewak

1st Place, Visual (2D), Create | Encounter 2022

Artist Statement:

Clyde Ross, the central figure in Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations,” faced iterations of systemic racism in the 20th century, the most notable of which was redlining. As our nation continues to grapple with the legal and social legacies of racism, this piece seeks to add to that conversation by situating the U.S. racial justice movement within the symbols, witnesses, theologies, and writings of American Christianity, especially Catholicism.

I included several close-ups of this collage so that the details would be visible.