Finding meaning in George Floyd's death through protest art left at his murder site

For months after George Floyd was killed by police in May 2020, people from around the world traveled to the site of his murder in Minneapolis and left signs, paintings, and poems to memorialize the man whose death reignited a movement against systemic racism.

- Cheyanne Mumphrey

Now, hundreds of those artifacts are on display for the first time outside of Minnesota, giving viewers elsewhere the chance to engage with the emotionally raw protest art and mourn Floyd, as well as other Black Americans killed by police.

"It's different than seeing it on TV," said Leah Hall of Phoenix, who brought her two young children to the exhibit that opened this month at the Arizona State University Art Museum. "It's an important part of history that they are not learning in school," said Hall, adding that she wasn't able to fly to Minneapolis to honor Floyd's life.

"Twin Flames: The George Floyd Uprising from Minneapolis to Phoenix" features about 500 artifacts that protesters and mourners left at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, where Floyd was killed. It is the largest collection of work from the intersection that has been on public display.

Paintings of Floyd and poems about him written on poster boards stand on easels throughout the exhibit. Signs made with paper plates and reused cardboard that say "Justice 4 Floyd" and "Enough is Enough" cover the walls.

The heavy themes of the words and images on display are contrasted by arrangements of fake flowers and flickering, battery-powered, white candles evoking the vigil held in Minneapolis after his death.

What's on display in Phoenix is just a fraction of the thousands of artifacts under the care of the George Floyd Global Memorial, an organization that also tends to the living memorial at the intersection where he died and, which remains closed off to traffic.