This wasn’t the way India March ’18 expected her year to go. While furloughed from a new marketing position with the Miami Marlins baseball team due to the COVID-19 pandemic, March found herself back home in 华盛顿, Pa. when George Floyd’s death prompted a surge in national activism for racial equity.
March lent her voice to local racial injustice protests—and thanks to support from W&J College and some generous patrons of the arts, she found a greater voice through her art.
“There’s no room for ignorance in life anymore, 我想做点什么,” said the communication arts and studio art major.
March set out to design wooden representations of nine recent victims of racial injustice, 包括乔治·弗洛伊德, Breonna泰勒, 和阿莫德·阿贝里.
这个系列是以她为原型的 W高级展览&J, depicting representational images of the heads and shoulders of women of different cultures. She recently sold those pieces as part of a campaign to raise funds for the family of Breonna泰勒, who was killed by police in Louisville, Ky.
三月向W&约翰·C. 克纳普,Ph值.D., her connections in the art department, and Director of 校园 & 公共安全, who granted her permission to use a campus art studio and wood-working equipment for one week.
“I expected to take a week in the studio,马奇说。, “but I was so motivated to get it done that I completed it in a day and a half.”
她将自己的系列作品命名为“Oji”,，在伊博语中是“黑色”的意思, 尼日利亚使用的一种语言, 是马奇祖先的一部分. In three days, she posted—and sold—the nine pieces of art on Instagram and 脸谱网. She then donated 50 percent of the proceeds, $500, 致1Hood Media, a Pittsburgh-based collective of socially conscious artists/activists.
“Part of this movement is to support black artists,马奇说。. “For me, it’s about spreading love and positivity.”
