Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 27 October 2020

Coverage

H Street NW and 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C., USA

Description

Protest signs and posters on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, located on the north side of Lafayette Park in Washington D.C.

There are multiple landscape views of the fence where many of the posters have been torn down. There is one part of the fence where there are little flags that have been arranged to spell “Defend Black Lives”. There is a ripped poster that reads “Black Lives…” with the rest torn off. Next to this is a small poster that reads “Yeah The Black Guy Did It”. There is a photograph of the memorial fence with posters torn down in front of the Washington Monument. There are multiple landscape photographs of the scaffolding with street art and posters some of which read “Black Lives Matter”.
There is another photograph of the scaffolding and there is a construction marker which two signs that read “Sidewalk Closed” and “Pedestrians” with an arrow pointing to the right

Source

The Black Lives Matter Memorial fence was a temporary chainlink fence installed in the area north of Lafayette Park and the White House from June 2, 2020, until January 30, 2021. The fence prevented public access to the area, and it also served as an important site of protest and self-expression.

Activist Nadine Seiler played a crucial role in protecting and caring for the fence, along with Karen Irwin and other activists in a loosely-formed group informally known as the "Guardians of the Fence." Nadine Seiler and Aliza Leventhal systematically documented the fence over the course of months, and Seiler became the de facto curator of the fence. 

Additional information: 

Library of Congress blog post "Protest Preserved: Signs from D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence" 

D.C. Public Library Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence Artifact Collection”

Rights

Photographer: Aliza Leventhal

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Publisher

Urban Art Mapping

Date

2020-10-27

Contributor

MM