Jammie Holmes: EVERYTHING HURTS

Dallas Contemporary’s digital exhibition EVERYTHING HURTS opened yesterday, June 16, 2020.

In response to the recent murder of George Floyd, Dallas-based artist Jammie Holmes, with the support of Library Street Collective, initiated a public demonstration across-five U.S. cities on Saturday, May 30 between the hours of 11:30am and 9pm EST. Airplanes with banners highlighting Floyd’s final words connected these cities in a national protest of police brutality against African Americans.

DETROIT: PLEASE I CAN’T BREATHE.

MIAMI: MY STOMACH HURTS.

DALLAS: MY NECK HURTS.

LOS ANGELES: EVERYTHING HURTS.

NEW YORK: THEY’RE GOING TO KILL ME.

Artist Statement

“This presentation is an act of social conscience and protest meant to bring people together in their shared incense at the inhumane treatment of American citizens. The deployment of Floyd’s last words in parts of its whole across the country underlines a need for unity and the conviction that what happened to George Floyd is happening all over America. An enduring culture of fear and hateful discrimination has only increased in its intensity since 2018, and a critical mass will no longer allow it to be ignored. 

With this demonstration, I hope that people across the United States will use the outlets available to them to continue to demand change. The use of sky media to recount Floyd’s final words presents a contrast to the noise of digital media and employs a form of communication that is most often used by the privileged to announce sporting events, marriage proposals, or promote consumption. It is rarely used for political or social purposes – to exercise free speech – because it is an outlet unavailable to the poor and marginalized. I hope that people will be reminded of the power we can have to be heard and that coming together behind a unified message is key for real change. 

Like countless silenced and fearful young black men, I have been the victim of police misconduct on a number of occasions in my life. At some point, they will realize they can’t kill us all.

I hope that people across the United States will use the outlets available to them to continue to demand change. Please sign petitions to support the families of the latest victims in their pursuit of justice, and donate what you can.” – Jammie Holmes

Growing up in darkness

These two works are part of an ongoing series that feature black youth and their experiences from childhood. For Jammie Holmes these works represent the feeling that he was never “raised,” things in life were never explained to the artist, his education was from experiences. Looking back on his schooling, he now knows that his all Black school had different methods of teaching and discipline than those with a White majority classroom. These works reflect on how his youth, and the childhood experiences for many in the Black community, would have been shaped differently if they had been born White. – Dallas Contemporary

Take action

Together with Jammie Holmes, the Library Street Collective, Dallas Contemporary, and the Seattle Artist League encourages you to consider enacting change by signing petitions and donating at the below links, selected by the artist.

Petitions via change.org

Justice for George Floyd

Justice for Breonna Taylor

Justice for Ahmaud Arbery

Donations

Official George Floyd Memorial Fund

I Run with Maud GoFundMe to raise money for Ahmaud Arbery’s Mother

Justice for for Breonna Taylor

Campaign Zero

Reclaim the Block