DEAR BLACK SON PROJECT
DEAR BLACK SON,
I LOVE YOU
“Dear Black Son” (DBS) is a portrait project that was fueled by the 2020 Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd. In response to a bystander video that captured an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck, my husband and I had a conversation with our 12-year-old son—the kind of talk white families don’t have to have with their children.
Through this project, we explore the private discussions between Black fathers and their sons, particularly about being Black in America. DBS Father/son portraits juxtaposed with comments or questions that may have come up during a “Dear Black Son” exchange hopes to challenge stereotypes and amplifies the voices of Black males as fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers.
DBS will use billboards in one way to convey this message to people living in, visiting, and traveling through the Greater Birmingham Metropolitan Area. Sharing images and private necessary moments with the wider public, (putting them out in the open, literally) has a subtle but powerful purpose: to increase understanding, empathy, and self-identification, which can transcend differences--
In addition to the billboards, “Dear Black Son” hopes to create a platform aims to expand awareness by engaging in dialogues between citizens, city officials and community partners within Birmingham, across the state, and beyond. These conversations will also explore the need for more resources, safe places, educational tools, and mentoring programs—and the tactics to put these plans into action.
DBS pilot project started last year during Father's Day Weekend at Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham.
#DEARBLACKSONPROJECT
If you would like to participate in this project email us today!
*Click CONTACT ARTIST tab*
Through this project, we explore the private discussions between Black fathers and their sons, particularly about being Black in America. DBS Father/son portraits juxtaposed with comments or questions that may have come up during a “Dear Black Son” exchange hopes to challenge stereotypes and amplifies the voices of Black males as fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers.
DBS will use billboards in one way to convey this message to people living in, visiting, and traveling through the Greater Birmingham Metropolitan Area. Sharing images and private necessary moments with the wider public, (putting them out in the open, literally) has a subtle but powerful purpose: to increase understanding, empathy, and self-identification, which can transcend differences--
In addition to the billboards, “Dear Black Son” hopes to create a platform aims to expand awareness by engaging in dialogues between citizens, city officials and community partners within Birmingham, across the state, and beyond. These conversations will also explore the need for more resources, safe places, educational tools, and mentoring programs—and the tactics to put these plans into action.
DBS pilot project started last year during Father's Day Weekend at Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham.
#DEARBLACKSONPROJECT
If you would like to participate in this project email us today!
*Click CONTACT ARTIST tab*
HELP FUND A DEAR BLACK SON BILLBOARD
Our next goal is to create two Father/Son Portrait billboards in the city of Birmingham
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Project Funder Credit
Space One Eleven | spaceoneeleven.org/
Space One Eleven is supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Additional support comes from
Space One Eleven's Board of Directors, friends of Space One Eleven, corporate and individual donors and
volunteers. Space One Eleven is a partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). This project is
made possible in part by support from the NPN Artist Engagement Fund. Major contributors include the
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for
the Arts (a federal agency). For more information visit www.npnweb.org.
