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After the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, Chattanooga's streets, along with streets around the country and world, burst in peaceful protests for social justice and racial equity.
Whose Streets - Our Streets opened on Columbus Day, now often marked as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 12th and will run through November 21st.
Local photographer J. Adams, immersed himself in the protests and captured poignant, vibrant images of Chattanooga’s I Can’t Breathe #CHA movement, the leaders and the hundreds of people who joined in night after night.
This unique exhibit has been organized by local independent curator, Carmen J. Davis.
The photographs are available to purchase.
NOTE:
Due to our COVID-19 safety standards, Whose Streets - Our Streets will be available to view at RISE Chattanooga by appointment only at this time. (Private and small group viewing appointment only) Please reach us directly at for appointment times / dates.
What is MIA?
Movement in Art (MIA) is a novel project from RISE Chattanooga that will amplify the voices of Chattanooga-area artists creating socially-conscious work. The project will be open to all levels of artistic disciplines. In order to reflect the grassroots nature of social movements, the featured work will be selected by a collective group of local notable artists/performers and community organizers and will displayed throughout the city on selected storefronts, billboards, and social media platforms. The project theme will rotate throughout the project year to reflect our city's evolving social and cultural landscape.
Art has historically been a major feature of social movement (political or otherwise) in the United States. As we see our country in the midst of social unrest and calls for change, we have also seen artists do their part to document and give voice to the struggles and victories of their communities. This work is being done in Chattanooga, but the opportunity to show that work is lacking. MIA aims to provide expressive platforms for our artists to continue being our community artistic anchors as well as provide financial support for their works.
In an effort to increase voter turnout, RISE placed an open call for creatives of all disciplines in October 2020 with the selected theme of “Your Voice, Your Power, Your Vote.”
Visual art, poetry & spoken word, photography, original songs and taped live performances were accepted. All submissions that meet the criteria will be included and featured on RISE Chattanooga’s
website and social media platforms.
Here are the top submissions!
Many thanks and congratulations to the following local creatives for their amazing work!
Robert Schoolfield
Rachel Landrum Crumble
C-Grimey
Brit Sigh
Miracle Hurley
Arturo Gomez
Kemmer Anderson
Speak To Me
By Miracle Hurley
Words on a page
I want to hear the between
What’s not said
What hasn’t been spoken
Knowing who you are when the curtains
are closed
Speak to me
What have you seen?
Lives taken
Displayed in cages
Swinging from ropes
Hands tied behind backs
Treated with disdain
A mockery of flesh
Ripped out of pages
Teach me your wisdom
So that I may know who I am
And this life I’ve been given
Won’t be wasted
Lost in time
I know the past of what you speak
For it is my present
The fight became a gift that was never
wrought
Through this lifetime and the next
I will not fail
To bring to light
The power of who you are
For this power lives in me too
The power of who you are is who I am
Woman incarnate
Mother
Daughter
Teacher
Lover
Fighter of truth and freedom
The light that lives within
Can never be hidden
Your words spoken
through peepholes and under stairs
Will speak to me one day
I am who I will become because you
paved the way
Your blood, sweat and tears
Run through these veins now
Your life is wisdom
My life became truth
For all women like me
Born of Babylon
To live is to die to be reborn out of the
ashes
Above the pain
Beneath the sky
I came to be your dream
By Arturo Gomez
By Brit Sigh
By Robert Schoolfield
The 8:46 Leaves the Station
George Floyd’s spirit moves beyond the shroud
of racism that fogs this land with fear.
Courage marches with power to be loud
in the name of justice and truth to clear
economic barriers bankrupt and near
collapse to make this broken nation free
of memory’s burden, scarred from slave chains
worn both by black Abels and white Cains,
lost to a brotherhood of reconciliation to see
all people equal to the task of liberty.
On the tracks, the 8:46 prayer trains
leave behind the old self too proud
to make a change from choosing greed and death
whether by pollution, or police knee.
Our human rights provide for breath.
Now is the time to make trouble holy.
Kemmer Anderson
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