You can see tears in Martha ?Cookie? Johnson?s eyes as she clutches the photo of her son, stabbed to death by his ex-girlfriend.
The Baltimore woman is one of 15 mothers sharing their stories in Tobechi Tobechukwu?s black and white portraits printed on canvas. The women all share the pain of loosing a child to violent acts.
“I know Cookie from growing up in West Baltimore,” said photographer Tobechukwu. “She stands out to me because she was like my sister. You could write a book on her life ? the violence she?s been exposed to, having kids who grew up in the same cycle. I?ve seen her drinking, smoking, crying, babies all around her.”
Women like Cookie are the last stronghold, Tobechukwusaid.
Tobechukwu said he never knew people who cared about him until he attended Baltimore School for the Arts, where his portraits are on view in Genocide Moms ? the second chapter of a ten year project titled Reparations. “I grew up in a neighborhood that was always take, take, take. I saw my first homicide when I was 9, and it didn?t stop. It was culture shock but refreshing to go to a peaceful environment. Coming back [to home] at night was traumatic.”
Choosing a camera over a gun lead Tobechukwu to a $25,000 fellowship, a successful Minneapolis studio and artistic excursions to Dafar, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Italy and Greece.
Stephen Kent, director of visual arts at the BSA, remembers Tobechukwu working all night in the school?s gallery on a 3D installation. Eliciting social change through art work, as Tobechukwu does, is the most challenging work an artist can do, said Kent.
Tobechukwu wants Genocide Moms to be a memorial which documents the senseless number of people dying and help heal families of the victims and incarcerated.
Artists have always addressed humanitarian issues and should continue, said Tobechukwu who plans to return to Baltimore within five years. “The exhibit is me giving to my community my as an artist. I?m trying to give ideas of what can be.”
IF YOU GO
Genocide Moms
VENUE: Baltimore School for the Arts
Clair Zamoiski and Thomas H. Segal Gallery
712 Cathedral Street, Baltimore
WHEN: Nov. 1 through Dec. 7
Opening Reception: 4-6 p.m. Thursday
TICKETS: Free
INFO.: 410-625-0403;
EXTRA: Tobechi Tobechukwu?s photographs can also be seen at the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center during November in Baltimore. For more information, visit www.eubieblake.org.
