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Black lives lost to police brutality will be projected on this NYC landmark

The stunning display begins next week.

Shaye Weaver
Written by
Shaye Weaver
Editor, Time Out New York
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The Public Theater is using its historic facade to make sure we "say their names."

Over the next few weeks, the beloved East Village cultural institution is projecting names of Black victims of police brutality and white violence, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and works by 10 artists responding to one prompt:

For centuries, the murders of Black Americans have been overlooked, covered up, and disregarded.
We invite you to remember.
We invite you to honor.
We invite you to Say Their Names.

The display is a stunning and moving visual representation.

Say their names public theater
Photograph: Courtesy Peter Cooper
Say their names public theater
Photograph: Courtesy Peter Cooper

The projection, called "SAY THEIR NAMES" by artist Garlia Cornelia Jones (with designs by Lucy Mackinnon and Brian McMullen), honors, remembers and includes at least 2,200 names by covering the entire front of the building. The projected accompanying art includes Ferguson to Baltimore by Dáreece Walker and Pietà by Tylonn J. Sawyer.

"Some of the Black lives on this list committed violent crimes. Some were innocent bystanders. Some were presumed dangerous—killed within seconds—before they had a chance to prove otherwise," Jones says in her artist statement. "Each of their lives mattered."

"SAY THEIR NAMES" will be on nightly between November 11 and December 5, from 6:30pm to 2am.

The Public Theater is also projecting "THE SEED PROJECT," by Lucy Mackinnon and Shih-lien Eugene Yen that features the words and images from the Public Works National Cohort community with photography by Jennifer Young. Its New York City members responded to the prompt: “Today, I am planting a seed of ..."

The seed project public theater
Photograph: Courtesy Peter Cooper

You can see this one through November 10, from 7pm to 12:35am.

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