Black Trans Lives Matter

By Elise Ketch

Honorable Mention, Visual (2D), Create | Encounter 2023

Artist Statement:

I spray painted this on the pedestal of the former Jefferson Davis monument in Richmond, VA, during June of 2020, after police brutality protesters tore down the statue. It was my contribution to a community reclamation project, but the remains have since been power-washed. The word "trans" was on a horizontal face of the pedestal, which meant from some angles it read as "Black Lives Matter," and from others it read "Black Trans Lives Matter."