NYC to host exhibition honoring Black lives lost to racial injustice

Say Their Names Memorial, a national, grassroots initiative focused on honoring the lives of African Americans who died by acts of racism or racial injustice, will debut its exhibition Sept. 17 in New York City’s Seneca Village.

About Say Their Names Memorial

Curated by the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art, the Say Their Names Memorial New York collaborated with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the New York Urban League, among other New York City cultural institutions.

The exhibition — which is described as an augmented reality experience combining digital photography, technology and art — will include 50 virtual pedestals bearing over 200 photos of Black people who died from racism spanning 200 years.

Among those featured in the memorial include Eric Garner, Emmett Till, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, along with victims of the mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in May. Other Say Their Names memorials appear across the country, including in Dallas, Portland, Oregon; and Hoboken, New Jersey.

“Racial violence has been a distinct part of American history since 1660,” Gaidi Finnie, the executive director of the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art, or SDAAMFA, said in a statement. “While that violence has impacted every ethnic and racial group in the United States, it has had a particularly horrific effect on African American life ranging from revolts of the enslaved and lynchings to urban uprisings and calculated acts of murder. SDAAMFA is honored to bring this exhibition to New York City and dedicate it to the ongoing fight to end systemic racism.”

Augmented reality

To participate in the Say Their Names Memorial, visitors must download a mobile application called Membit — a geolocation augmented reality storytelling platform — on their electronic devices to get instructions, along with a map of the exhibition.

In the app, visitors can read about every person and the circumstances surrounding their deaths. They will also be able to access a screen-recording feature to share the faces and names of those in the memorial.