"Even in this day and age we are still fighting as a people," said artist Chris Cook. "The message is clear, police brutality is going on."
Fifteen images from Cook's Black Lives Matter series are now part of the "Am I Next?" collection at the Welancora Gallery. It's Cook's very first solo show.
"It's a lot of emotions that I felt, so I tried to pour that into some of the imagery," he said.
There is a combination of limited edition action shots and portraits like one of a woman wearing the word "enough" on a shirt, an American flag as a face covering with the names of Black victims of police brutality.
"What does it mean to you to have been so close, on the frontlines?" Eyewitness News reporter Crystal Cranmore asked.
"I just think it was a huge opportunity," Cook said. "It's a full circle. Because I am showcasing work in the community I grew up in."
"Sometimes it's difficult for young artists and curators to find a professional outlet to express themselves," said Ivy Jones, the founder of Welancora Gallery.
Jones' gallery represents and promotes artists of color. She selected Cook's photos.
"I was particularly drawn to the images with signs," Jones said.
She spoke about what led her to name the exhibit, "Am I Next?"
"'Am I Next?' It's really the question Black people have been asking probably since the middle passage, to me it says we have a long way to go," Jones said.
Cook's work will be at the gallery through April 10.
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RESOURCES
We are also publishing resources in a range of areas, which will grow and can be found below:
Ways to Help
Black Lives Matter
Black Voters Matter Fund
NAACP
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform
Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY)
Black LGBTQIA + Migrants Project
Teaching the Next Generation
Black Lives Matter at School
Creating Space To Talk About Racism At Your School
Teaching for Black Lives - Rethinking Schools
Black-Owned Bookstores in New York and New Jersey
Cafe con Libros (Brooklyn)
Grandma's Place (Harlem)
Sister's Uptown (Manhattan)
Source of Knowledge (Newark)
The Lit. Bar (Bronx)
The Little Boho Bookshop (Bayonne)
Books
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Podcasts
1619
Black Wall Street 1921
Jemele Hill is Unbothered
Still Processing:
Movies
American Son: Available on Netflix
If Beale Street Could Talk: Available on Hulu
Just Mercy: Available on Amazon Prime
Selma: Available on Amazon Prime
The Hate U Give: Available on Amazon Prime
When They See Us: Available on Netflix
Documentaries
13th: Available on Netflix
America Inside Out with Katie Couric: Available on National Geographic
Becoming: Available on Netflix
I am Not Your Negro: Available on YouTube