Protests that took place in downtown Columbus in the following days after George Floyd’s death that started May 28th Credit: Courtesy of Joshua Edmonds
As millions of people bore witness to the killing of George Floyd by police this past May, cities across the country — including Columbus — have been reacting in response, and photographer Joshua Edmonds was able to capture some of the most powerful moments in days that followed Floyd’s death.
Edmond’s photography exhibition “One Voice, One Message: Black Lives Matter” was presented Monday at the Hopkins Hall Gallery and will be available for viewing through Oct. 20. The exhibition is shown in collaboration with Ohio State’s Frank W. Hale, Jr. Black Cultural Center, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Urban Arts Space, and it is presented in partnership with The HeART of Protest Series by the King Arts Complex in an effort to capture the essence of the current social justice movement.
Edmonds, the visual media specialist in ODI, participated in the Columbus protests every other day from the time they started May 28 to the time they died down a few weeks later in late June.
“The experience was a mix of emotions,” Edmonds said. “I was sad that we had to be out protesting but also hopeful due to the amount of people that came out to express themselves and show support.”
Edmonds said people were going out and expressing themselves in different ways during the protests. He said it was something that he hadn’t seen before.
“It was in the ways that people were expressing themselves, whether it was protesting or getting the speakerphone out to speak,” Edmonds said. “All the art that appeared on High Street was what made me want to capture those moments.”
Merijn van der Heijden, director of the Urban Arts Space and Hopkins Hall Gallery, was one of many who encouraged Edmonds to share his photos with the rest of the community.
“Mr. Edmond’s images are compositionally and technically quite striking and beautiful, and they are different from the often more dramatic images of protest one might see in the news,” van der Heijden said. “There’s a focus on community and connectedness as seen in our city of Columbus.”
Van der Heijden said their joint goal for this exhibition is to further engage students and student groups and spark new creative responses.
“I believe that art is particularly well-suited to lead discussions around difficult topics and that art has the ability to bring people together, to teach and engage individuals and groups with different points of view and to tell stories and teach empathy,” van der Heijden said.
Edmonds said he wanted to capture the scale of the protests and how many people came out.
“I wanted to capture distinct moments. Moments that resonated with me and that never strayed from telling the story of what we were all there for, to demand justice and continue to let everyone know that Black lives matter,” Edmonds said.
“One Voice, One Message: Black Lives Matter” will be available to view at Hopkins Hall Gallery from 11:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m through Oct. 20. Edmonds’ photographs will migrate to the Hale Black Cultural Center in Hale Hall in January 2021. In the meantime, his work will remain online on the Urban Arts Space website for the rest of the semester after the exhibition closes, van der Heijden said.
