Tyler Shields

JC Vogt

The Black Lives Matter movement is an international organization that started in

the Summer of 2013 when the tragic murder of Trayvon Martin shocked the nation.

After Zimmermans acquittal, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began to spread to the

masses. Founded by three black community organizers, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi

and Alicia Garza, the group set out to promote awareness of the inequality and still

existent oppression that was seeping through the African American community. Later in

August of 2014, the Black Lives Matter Movement organized its first in-person protest

after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The protest gained over 500 members

of the community to join in the non-violent demonstration, and the protest has since

become recognized national as a symbol of defiance.

The Black Lives Matter movement is heavily influenced by the African-American

Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s, and currently referred to as a new civil

rights movement thats defending against the oppression targeted towards African

American citizens. Using this idea for inspiration, Tyler Shields, an American born and

Los Angeles-dwelling photographer, created a series of photographs that shocked and

fueled and anger felt by recent injustices. Featured in his most recently series Historical

Fiction, these images with ties to the Black Lives Matter are unsettling yet potent. One

image features a nude black man in a forest-surrounded lake lynching a figure in a Ku

Klux Klan uniform, a shocking yet ironic twist on the atrocities that occurred in the late

1800s and early 1900s. Another image in the series depicts two black businessmen

stabbing a restrained white police officer with the United States flag, a play on Stanley

Gormans Soiling of Old Glory in which a white teenager is seen threatening to stab a

black protestor with an American flag. The reversed rolls as well as the introduction of

police men speaks to the brutality and excessive violence these officers have

demonstrated in recent events. Illustrating the disrespect shown towards the African

American community in the middle of the 20th century, these photographs strike

shockingly close to the reality of today as the lives of many Americans are still

considered trivial due to a difference in skin pigmentation, and while Shields doesnt

directly refer to his art as a form of activism, the content and timing of these images

come to disagree.

The photographs were released separately, the Klansman lynching image

appearing on its own, soon followed by the rest in the collection, and the response was

immediate. The photos amassed over ten thousand likes on Instagram in just minutes,

and articles promoting the message of the images began to spread. The Daily Beast, a

popular and modern news source, interviewed Shields about his motives behind the

images, as well as the general response to the photographs, where he touches on how

mixed the publics reactions were. A large majority of the photographs viewers were left

in awe, seemingly shocked upon seeing such a harsh reminder of how horrific the

countrys past has been. Others, however, were offended, threatening the photographer

for recreating such a controversial image. However, regardless of how much support

and backlash the image received, I believe that the message couldve been supported.

The series, while shocking, didnt have much of a personal backing, and while many
could assume Shields disgust with the recent events, there was no verbal recognition or

condemnation to them. As a result, the images were seen as satirical representations of

Americas past, and while applicable to the Black Lives Matters organization, they dont

fulfill the role of activist art as well as they could have, like if they were backed with a

personal position.