ST. LOUIS — Local artist Marlon West says the first view of some portraits in his “Ink Tributes” gallery was blurred.
“I drew a lot of them with tears in my eyes,” he explains.
St. Louis University Museum of Art SLUMA is displaying West’s art exhibit through November.
West, an award-winning animator who serves as head of effects and VFX supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Studios, wanted the pieces in Ink Tributes to display American comic-style art - but the superheroes are victims of racial or gender identity crimes.
Ahamd Aubrey, George Floyd, and Sandra Bland are subjects in the gallery. Other portraits honor those who were looking for some “good trouble,” including the late John Lewis and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
West said his work is rooted “in the pursuit of illuminating a multifaceted narrative encompassing both those who have endured such traumatic events and those who played a vital role in addressing such injustices.”
When videos of Floyd's murder at the hands of a former Minneapolis police officer flooded the nation, West said he created his first portrait “in a moment of despair.”
He memorialized Floyd, making him more than his death.
West said Mike Brown, Breonna Taylor, and Tamar Rice “deserve to be comic book elevated.”
“It’s kind of cathartic for me to draw them, it feels like they are staring back at me,” said West. “It felt good to see them in a heroic stance.”
West grew up in University City and says he loved Marvel comic books. He resonated with the main characters including Spider-Man because they were misunderstood.
“Or they were on the right side of history but were always chased down for doing the right thing. The cops were always chasing Spider-Man,” West said.
“For many of us Black nerds, Marvel's characters are particularly relatable. They are often hated and hunted by the powers that be. They are aliens, or born different, or have to deal with harsh cards dealt to them."
“They are feared, despised, shunned, and misunderstood. There isn't a more American form of portraiture than black 'inks' over white, to honor those that faced this nation's fear and loathing of the Black body."
West wanted to create four portraits, beginning with George Floyd, and ending with Christian Cooper, an African-American bird watcher in New York who was harassed by a white passerby who threatened to call the police for simply enjoying his hobby.
“That was going to be my ‘happy ending.’ That’s how I envisioned it,” said the animator. “But more and more news stories about racial violence or sexually identity motivated killings were coming down the media pipeline one after another.”
West, who has a transgender son, shared how the death of Tony McDade, a transgender man, affected him. The artist could see the hurt, fear, and pain his son was experiencing.
West created a portrait of McDade in honor of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“That was my motivation, to sit with these images and stare at them, it was like bearing witness to what they went through,” said West.
Ashley Winters is a Report for America reporter for the St. Louis American.