1st place
gold star award
Tim Evans
united states
title
Say Their Names
Say Their Names tracks this spontaneous uprising from its outset, providing a textured visual record of events. The series is centrally concerned with the experience of those--particularly BIPOC folks--who risked their bodies in order to hold accountable structures of white supremacist power that continue to suppress their voices and lives. As such, my goal is to commemorate and further this most recent phase of a long-standing movement for racial equity, a phase whose roots reside in Minneapolis but whose branches quickly spanned the world.
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entry description
On Monday, May 25, 2020--in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic--George Floyd was brutally murdered by Minneapolis police officers who were responding to a report of a counterfeit $20 bill. In the days following Mr. Floyd's killing, unprecedented civil unrest engulfed the Twin Cities. Protesters, pushed to their edge by unrelenting cases of police violence against Black and Brown citizens, carried out widespread property damage, while officers indiscriminately deployed tear gas and rubber bullets, often against peaceful gatherings. Officials declared a state of emergency on May 29. As a result, the Minnesota National Guard was mobilized to impose curfews in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Residents continued to voice their outrage on the streets despite these measures. Finally, some two weeks after the inciting murder—by the time a fragile calm had once again settled over the city—hundreds of people had been arrested or injured (some seriously) by police, nearly 1,500 buildings had been razed, looted, or vandalized, and a generation of youth had joined the movement to dismantle systemic oppression. The struggle continues.Say Their Names tracks this spontaneous uprising from its outset, providing a textured visual record of events. The series is centrally concerned with the experience of those--particularly BIPOC folks--who risked their bodies in order to hold accountable structures of white supremacist power that continue to suppress their voices and lives. As such, my goal is to commemorate and further this most recent phase of a long-standing movement for racial equity, a phase whose roots reside in Minneapolis but whose branches quickly spanned the world.
about the photographer
Tim Evans is a documentary photographer based in Minneapolis, MN. Modern life is awash with humanity and decency, with incredible spirit, but also with grave injustices. As a documentarian, Tim aims to convey this complex reality through the power of still images, centering the stories of dispossessed, working class, and socially oppressed people in the process--as well as folks struggling for change.back to gallery