"I Am..."
“I Am...” consists of multiple 30” x 24” black-edged frames, with engraved name(s) of victims murdered from hate or racially motivated crimes in the United States and the year of their death on the front pane of clear acrylic. The name(s) and year sits at the bottom edge of an oval, with the white portrait mat resting over a mirror-like black acrylic. When the viewer stands in front of the frame, they can see their own reflection in the black acrylic within the portrait oval, above the name(s) of the victims. My intentions are to memorialize the identities of the past murdered victims so they are not forgotten and, with the viewer’s reflection placed within the frame above the name(s), it acknowledges the victim’s absence. The viewer become part of the artwork, thus bridging the past and present together. Their reflection also implicates them as the next possible victim, suggesting that such crimes can happen to anyone.
Raymond Yellow Thunder 1972,
Vincent Chin 1982
Raul & Brisenia Flores 2009, Trayvon Martin 2012
Ongoing list of names of victims included in "I Am..." thus far, as of July 2013 (of names included, and planned to be included). Sadly, this list does not include many, many other victims murdered by hatred and prejudice.
Thank You to The Puffin Foundation for awarding me a grant to add more frames to this project (June 2013). Link to the webpage for my project "I Am..." at The Puffin Foundation. http://www.puffinfoundation.org/grantees/artists/660-horiuchi-barbara.html
Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley 1963
James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner 1964
Charles Moore, Henry Dee 1964
Raymond Yellow Thunder 1972
Vincent Chin 1982
Brian Mock, Hattie Mae Cohens 1992
Brandon Teena 1993
James Byrd Jr. 1998
Matthew Shepard 1998
Joseph Ileto 1999
Won-Joon Yoon 1999
Gary Matson, Winfield Mowder 1999
Arthur “J.R.” Warren 2000
Ali Almansoop 2001
Waquar Hassan 2001
Vasudev Patel 2001
Abdo Ali Ahmed 2001
Balbir Singh Sodhi 2001
Adel Karas 2001
Ali W. Ali 2002
Gwen Araujo 2002
Sakia Gunn 2003
Bang Mai 2004
Pedro Corzo 2004
Michael Roberts 2005
Cheryl Green 2006
Michael Sandy 2006
Miguel Vega 2006
Norris Gaynor 2006
Du Doan 2007
Steve Domer 2007
Satender Singh 2007
Lawrence King 2008
Luis Ramirez 2008
Raul Flores, Brisenia Flores 2009
Juan Varela 2010
Jose Sucuzhanay 2010
James Craig Anderson 2011
Johnny Lee Butts 2011
Trayvon Martin 2012
Sunando Sen 2012
Alfred Wright 2013