Paul Rucker: Forever
Recommended
This event is in the past
Nov 7, 2019–Feb 1, 2020, Tuesdays–Saturdays
Greg Kucera Gallery
Pioneer Square (Seattle)
Free
In Forever, Rucker constructed 15 commemorative stamp prints out of aluminum. Eschewing "traditional" subjects like presidents, state flowers, and American flags, Rucker opted instead to place the faces of civil rights–era activists, schoolchildren, and falsely accused teens who were murdered or framed by white supremacists. While some of the people depicted might be familiar to viewers—like Emmett Till or the four little girls who were murdered in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing by members of the Ku Klux Klan—others may prove unfamiliar. By centering these martyrs, Rucker investigates how we as a country remember our violent history and who gets remembered as being fundamental in the telling of the story. While some may point to nonviolent activists like Rosa Parks as the beginning of their civil rights knowledge, it was really the 1955 violent murder of Emmett Till (who was falsely accused by a white woman of harassment) that spurred Black Americans to fight for recognition of their civil rights.
by Stranger Staff Writer Jas Keimig