ARRAY's LEAP Presents “41 to ‘99”

Steven Irby

ARRAY's LEAP Presents “41 to ‘99”

Wheeler Ave, The Bronx, NY

With the killing of Amadou Diallo as his primary point of departure, photographer Steven John Irby reimagines the traditional candlelight vigil by subverting its intended meaning of marking where a life has been lost and honored by loved ones. Irby enlists a visual motif around death and repurposes these candles in order to penetrate the invisible wall that protects certain privileged communities from the reality of state-sanctioned, police violence. The imagery included in this photo essay seeks to disrupt the silence in White communities surrounding the murder of Black people by relinquishing Black victimhood and instead offers a plea for police accountability. The forty-one candles represent the forty-one bullets NYPD officers fired at Diallo in the early hours of February 4, 1999. Additionally, Irby's use of ‘wanted’ style flyers showing officers Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss asks viewers to remember who was behind each of those bullets. The photographs, both mundane and quotidian, are brought together to present an indictment against these officers and illuminate the shielded communities that served as accomplices to their violence.

Photographer: Pete Monsanto
Artist: Stephen Irby

Urban Art Mapping

HS

UAM-GF_3573