George Perry Floyd Jr., American, 1973 - 2020 Search this
Medium:
digital
Dimensions:
H x W: 4480 pixels × 6720 pixels
File size: 172.3 MB
Type:
digital images
digital media - born digital
Place captured:
Hollywood, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
Date:
June 7, 2020
Caption:
Photographer Tommy Oliver is an award-winning producer and cinematographer in television and film. Best known for his 2020 documentary 40 Years a Prisoner on HBO, his docuseries Black Love (2017–2020) on OWN, and his feature film The Perfect Guy (2015), Oliver challenges audiences to question their assumptions about race, gender, and family. The film Kinyarwanda (2011), which Oliver co-produced, weaves together narratives of resilience during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It won the Sundance Film Festival’s award for World Cinema Drama and was recognized as one of the top 10 films of 2011. This photograph is part of a broader portfolio of images taken during Black Lives Matter rallies in Los Angeles between May 31 and June 14, 2020.
Description:
A digital, black-and-white image of YG participating in a Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood, California. The image was taken by Tommy Oliver during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd. YG, pictured center, is in the middle of a tightly packed crowd of protesters. He is holding a large sign with a photograph of Nipsey Hussle above his head with his proper left hand. YG is depicted from the waist up, facing the viewer, and smiling. He is wearing a black, baseball-style cap worn backwards and a white, short sleeve T-shirt. Printed on the front of his T-shirt is an illustrated color graphic of a KKK Klansman hanging from a tree. Partially obscured black outlined text around the illustration reads [K[LU?] [K?]LUX KOPS], [[HA?]NG YO[SELFsic]] and [KILL US? [---?] Y[OU?]]. The large photograph of Hussle depicts him in bust pose with his face turned on profile, towards his proper left shoulder. He is wearing a white puma jacket and has several metal chain necklaces around his neck. Also visible in the photograph, are his checkered flag tattoos on his neck, the facial tattoo over his proper right eyebrow that reads [PROLIFIC], and a smaller one by his eye that reads [GOD / WILL RISE]. His hair is divided into wide sections and plaited into cornrows. Many of the protesters surrounding YG are wearing face masks, or other types of protective face coverings, and some are carrying raised protest signs. In the distant background is a white, neoclassical building on the left and a large leafy tree on the right.
Statement:
Objects depicting racist and/or stereotypical imagery or language may be offensive and disturbing, but the NMAAHC aims to include them in the Collection to present and preserve the historical context in which they were created and used. Objects of this type provide an important historical record from which to study and evaluate racism.
