The print “41 Bullets” addresses racial profiling, gun violence, and police brutality,. In 1999, during the brutal murder of Amadou Diallo in NYC, I was reminded that gun violence and brutal aggression against people of color is still a current problem in our modern Western society. The November 2006 incident of the murder of the unarmed Sean Bell, who was gunned down with 50 bullets after a bachelor party proves that little has changed in the way we use force.
Such violence also asks a larger question of guns as a means of liberation and protection. Does our society really benefit from having easy access to arms? Bumper stickers, such as “Guns Don’t Kill. Only people Do.” advertise for the right to carry arms, and gun activists say that Columbine and Virginia Tech would not have happened to the violent extent, if students and teachers would have been armed. But what would reality look like, if no one would bear arms? And how about, if there would be no gun dealers and arms shows? It is probably true that humans have a violent tendency embedded in their genes, but there is no reason why we as a society should support this violent behavior by giving people easy access to arms and cultivate violence in popular culture.

As for Amadou, Sean and their families, it is too late for change. But we as artists can hopefully stir up some thoughts and discussion in the public, which will change the way we use excessive force and look at the reality how the US gun and arms culture really affects us as a nation.