Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 23 November 2020

Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 23 November 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 is an apartment building that has two large posters on them. One has a painted image of Ruth Bader Ginsberg on it and it reads “Fight For The Things You Care About.” And next to this is an image of a black woman with her fist raised and is wearing a cape. The woman’s shirt on the poster reads “My Voice Is My Super Power” and the poster itself reads “Vital Voices”.

There is an image of the Memorial Fence, the White House, and the Washington Monument behind it and there is a bike, chairs, coolers, and bags that are in front of the fence. People are in front of the fence and one is holding a poster protesting. Multiple posters read “Stop Killing Us” “Pay A Black Woman Today” “Black Lives Matter” “Resist “We are the Majority” “Black Trans Lives Matter” “Trump Is A Danger To Us All” “White silence Fuels Domestic [illegible]” “#DefundMPD EndSARS” “Fuck Your Fence” “Join Campaign Zero” “#Say Their Names” “Jesus knows Black Lives Need More Than Thoughts & Prayers”.

There is a blue poster with an image of a black woman in a yellow dress and black heeled shoes running to an outline of a boy lying on the ground crying out the words that read “mama” and this is on a blue background. On the far right of the same poster are the numbers “8:46”

There is another image of the fence with posters that reads “Say Their Names” “Fuck Your Racist ass Grandma” LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL not some” “Reclaiming our… time. History. Choices. SPACE.” “DEFUND the POLICE” “DEFUND MPD” “Defend Black Lives and many others, but they are unable to be read due to the angle of the photo. There is a large white tapestry that reads “Fuck Trump” and other statements that read “Eyes On You” and “Rising” and six multicolored flowers painted on.

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

2020-11-23

Contributor

MM