Pamela Saunders

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Artist Statement

The complexities of our time have created a shift in the common consciousness of what it means to exist, to live, to breathe. Whether the breath is literal, as in Black men under the knee of modern oppression, or breathing through a mask bound by law or social pressure. Silence is violence, so no more can one exist in the shadows. As countless Americans die from not breathing, whether it is due to Covid-19, which affects the lungs, or Police Brutality, the common factor and one I hope to highlight through my art is the very foundational right to breathe in America. Juxtapose the masses, protests and monument destruction with a quiet 6 year-old going to school sixty years ago. It is time. It is 2020 – and how will we look back on this time with 20/20 vision?