Artists and activists immortalize art from the 2020 uprising in a new book, exhibit

NINA MOINI: This is Minnesota Now. I'm Nina Moini. George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police in 2020 started an uprising in Minneapolis and across the country. A new book and accompanying art exhibit spotlights and documents the art from that time period, the plywood murals made by protesters and mourners during the uprising.

The book is called Art and Artifact-- Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising, and it's out now. The accompanying exhibit is on display at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota until December 7. Leesa Kelly is the author of the book and the activist and founder of the organization Memorialize the Movement. Welcome to the show, Leesa.

LEESA KELLY: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

NINA MOINI: And we have Amira McLendon who's here. Amira is a local artist and curator of the exhibition at the University of Minnesota. Thank you for being here as well, Amira.

AMIRA MCLENDON: Of course. Thanks for having me, too.

NINA MOINI: Leesa, I want to start with you because you began this Memorialize the Movement effort back in 2020, when you began to preserve and photograph the artwork from the uprising. Would you take us back to that time and talk about why in the moment it sounds like you were thinking, oh, I better chronicle this? And can you tell me why that spoke to you?

LEESA KELLY: Yeah, I think really and truly, it started off as a trauma response. There were so many things happening, from the election to the uprising. And trying to process and deal with George Floyd's murder, while simultaneously protesting and demanding justice, while also trying to keep ourselves alive during this pandemic, it was a lot to deal with for me. And emotionally, I was just all over the place. And I wasn't in a space where I could really understand what was going on and process that correctly.

NINA MOINI: Sure.

LEESA KELLY: And when I saw the murals coming up in May and in June, they really gave me hope. They were able to provide language to the emotions that I couldn't express at the time. They made me feel like I wasn't alone. And so for me, they were just really inspiring. And they helped me get up and go day after day. And so in late June, when they started coming down, it was kind of traumatic for me, I guess, watching them disappear overnight.

And it just became really apparent to me that someone should do something about it, someone should collect them, someone should make sure that they were protected and preserved for the future. And I waited and watched, but nothing was happening. No one had come forward to start collecting them. And after a while, it became apparent to me that it was now or never.

And so I took the reins. I created a flyer. I started going door to door to business owners and storefront owners, and I began collecting the murals. And initially, it was not to found an organization or to be the person who would steward and preserve these murals. It was just to make sure that they were safe from harm and they wouldn't be lost or auctioned or sold or destroyed.

But later, when I realized that there was no infrastructure here for Black art institutions or museums to care for art of this size and scale, that I would be the one to do it. I would have to be the person who took on that project. And it's just blossomed into this really beautiful organization.

NINA MOINI: Sure. Well, I wonder, too, can you talk a little bit about how you preserve those pieces of art? And then did you know who the artists were?

LEESA KELLY: Yeah, so preserving the murals is not easy work. Most of them are made of different forms of wood and plywood, traditional plywood, particle board, OSB. Some of them are made of some finicky, weird thin sheets of plywood that I don't even have a name for. And plywood is a living, breathing thing. So it can collect life. It can respond to having moisture and mold. It can warp, and it can bend. It can break and fall apart and come back together.

And so preserving it really takes a lot of patience and time. And it requires a level of care that takes years to learn. And I haven't had years to learn it. I've had to take a crash course on preserving plywood. And it's been a really cool experience. But to answer your second question, we have identified many of the artists. It's been a challenge because not everyone signed their piece and not everyone identifies as an artist.

Many of the pieces were created by protesters and community members. They were created by groups who live in a certain neighborhood or part of a specific organization. And so identifying those people have been more of a challenge. But in terms of the people who identify as an artist, we have been able to find most of them, connect with them, and get their permission to use the work. And for a lot of them, we still keep in contact. And we've brought them in as stakeholders for the work that we do with exhibiting those murals.

NINA MOINI: OK. And I do want to talk about that exhibit and bring you in here, Amira. So in accompaniment to this book, there's an exhibit now, again, on display at Katherine E. Nash Gallery. And, Amira, this is your debut as a curator, I understand. Congratulations.

AMIRA MCLENDON: Thank you. Yeah, my very first exhibition that I've curated completely on my own.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. How did you decide what kind of experience you wanted to create?

AMIRA MCLENDON: Yeah, when I was thinking about the themes and the narratives that I wanted to build, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my experiences in 2020, but also my experiences with MTM, an organization that was founded around the uprising. What working with MTM has been like in the aftermath, I got with MTM as an intern in 2022. So two years removed from the uprising. And for me, I spent a lot of time throughout my internship, and I still think about it now, but the ways in which, I guess, memory and remembrance within our community tends to shift in a lot of different ways.

There'll be spikes of people wanting to talk about the uprising in May, when we come around to the anniversary. But throughout the rest of the year, the interest seems wane and stuff. So for me, I was thinking about I want people to reflect on 2020 and where we are now in 2024 with the way that folks's memories seem to wane in that way. How do we feel about where we are now with the interests and everything? That was sort of my idea. And then posing the question, Are you proud of where we are now, too? to really get people to think and reflect.

NINA MOINI: And it'll be five years in May. That's almost hard to believe. Leesa, I want to come back to you. And it sounds like Amira wants people to reflect, remember, think about how they remember and practice that. What do you hope people take away from seeing this artwork memorialized in this way?

LEESA KELLY: Yeah, it's funny because Amira coming in, she's a totally different generation than I am. And although all of our goals and all of our missions are aligned with Memorialize the Movement, I think between the two of us, we have two secret missions. And her mission is to make sure that people remember. And that's what she brings to MTM. And that's such an important part of the organization.

And my secret mission is to foster the next generation of archivists, conservators, and curators. I want to make sure there's never a situation that happens again where there is an uprising or, I guess, an influx of art and historic artifacts being produced at a time and we don't have the infrastructure to collect that art.

I want to make sure that the next time something like this happens-- and given the state of the world, we know that there will be a next time-- we have the tools and resources in place to make sure that that history is preserved and archived in real time, and that history can be remembered and told and not forgotten. Because there have been so many civil rights movies-- or moves, sorry, civil rights movements throughout the US in our history where we've just lost full histories, full--

NINA MOINI: You're wanting to chronicle history and be on the frontlines of that. Appreciate your work. Leesa and Amira, appreciate your time so much. All the best with what's coming up with the book launch tonight at 6:00 at Minneapolis Central Library and the exhibition, again, on display at the University of Minnesota through December 7. Thank you both for being here.

LEESA KELLY: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Well, that's all for Minnesota Now today. If you missed anything, you can always catch it at mprnews.org, or look for a podcast, Minnesota Now. Just search that wherever you get your podcasts. Have a great afternoon.

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