Portrait of Marcus Parks Sr. 1969-2020. Oil on canvas, 11X14. Painted 2020. Marcus is dressed in a luxurious bus driver uniform. A golden Aten sun disk with rays that end in hands holding ankhs adorns his head. Behind him, a magic winged bus glides to a landing, ready for Marcus to take the wheel.

Hello everyone. I'm a self taught painter whose main project is to help grieving people transform suffering through portraiture. Welcome to the Million Gun Victims March!

#art #portrait #artactivism #MGVM

Portrait of Mckenzie Elliot (2011-2014), oil on canvas 11X14, painted 2014. The three year old stands in a flower garden, trellis with her name and dates behind her. Her braids are held together with colored beads. Her dress is bright green decorated with butterflies. She wears bright red buckle shoes. A deep blue sash is tied around her waist. She holds a baby rabbit in her arms as she gazes straight at the viewer. The mother rabbit perches beside her, watchful, ready to defend. McKenzie Elliot was born in the Asian year of the Rabbit, hence the symbol.

Such was the case with Mackenzie Elliot. She was three years old in 2014, just finding out the excitement in being able to form complex thought into speech. The whole block loved her bright eyes and happy ways.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories

There's nothing like the laughter of small children. Joyous, gurgling with pure glee, before the struggles of growing up take place. Over years, the pure mirth vanishes. Or it could stop suddenly.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories

The breakthrough is that I begin to somehow detach from my own identity enough to allow the subject themselves to "communicate " who they were freely. I become a true messenger in paint. I owe Truc Thi Ly Nguyen a great debt for this.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories

Why did her portrait enable an advance in art? Was it because I mainly painted her outdoors at Fort McHenry Park during lovely spring days?

#MGVM #artactivism ##Marcherstories

That modest dream was shattered when a shooter carrying out a hit job on her customer burst into the salon, gun blazing. Her head took a bullet, killing her instantly. Her customer was wounded, but survived.

#MGVM #artactivism ##Marcherstories

Her name was Truc Thi Ly Nyugen (1971-2014). She is the 40th Marcher to join the crusade. She worked every at a salon as a manicurist in East Baltimore. She and her fiance arrived in America with hopes of working hard for a house of their own, so they could marry.

#MGVM #Marcherstories

This next Marcher represents a portrait that gave me a breakthrough in ability. Her story brought out a hidden depth in me. She will appear again in my next category.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories

I vow to find the grieving sister of this innocent man and finally hand over this message in paint from her beloved sibling.

#MGVM ##artactivism #portraits

A near relative asked him to help out on a repair project. Gerald sat in the passenger seat. As the relative drove down the street, a shooter fired multiple times at the relative. Gerald was hit instead.

#MGVM ##artactivism #portraits

Portrait of gun victim Gerald Commodore (1990-2013). Oil on canvas, 9" X 12", painted 2014. Gerald, a large black man, aged 33, gazes dreamily towards the upper right corner. He wears horizontal striped thick workshirt, a tape measure in his right hand, a hammer in the other. A toolbox rests on the table beside him.

This is the story of gentle giant Gerald Commodore (1990-2013). He is the 33rd Marcher to join this project. He was soft spoken, large hearted, and did freelance repairs to get by as well as help friends and neighbors.

#MGVM #artactivism #portaits

I've been preoccupied as my kitchen has been given a reincarnation these past couple weeks. However, I present another MGVM Marcher from the "Not the Intended Target" subgroup.

#MGVM #artactivism #portraits

If you go on YouTube, search Lor' Deshaun, or the rap "Bodie 'Em", on the channel Big G Filmz, you will see Deshaun Jones starting his dream. A fragment of work from a fragment of a life.

#MGVM #Marcherstories #artactivism

The second challenge is that Deshaun is the first Marcher I've watched on video. A couple of his songs were taped before his life was stolen. What a glimpse it was watching one marginalized lad's own words about the world he lived in. If only he lived long enough to mature.

#MGVM

To this day, I've not seen any news that anyone was brought in for Deshaun's murder. As the 22nd Marcher, Deshaun brought two challenges. The first is to use dramatic shadowing to bring out the uniqueness of the subject.

#MGVM #Marcherstories #artactivism

A car full of other young men, engines revving full steam, sped down the block. A hail of bullets from multiple guns blazed toward the crap players.Many were wounded. Only Deshaun, who was minding his own thoughts, was killed.

#MGVM ##Marcherstories
#artactivism #portrait

What budding hip-hop artist Deshaun Jones (1998-2013) thought as he sat on his home stoop will never be known. A few doors down, on the corner, a group of young men were playing craps.

#MGVM ##Marcherstories #portraits ##artactivism

What was it like for you the day before starting your first day of high school? Those four years are the last labyrinth to feel through before real maturity. Until then, you're expected to act adult, but live with constraints of a child.

#MGVM ##Marcherstories

The challenge is, how does one paint such a lovely, glamorous, cheerful, friendly, outgoing Marcher when the artist themself has none of these qualities? The artist must, so the rest of the world can see what we miss from her stolen life.

#MGVM ##artactivism ##portraits ##Marcherstories

They were attacked by a man hired for the job by a woman who harbored jealousy toward one the thought was a love rival. It wasn't Gennie. She was not the intended target. Both man and woman are in prison.

#MGVM #artactivist #portraits #Marcherstories

She and three close girlfriends were just sitting outside on a beautiful May day, talking about their post graduation plans,and laughing. A spray of rapid gunfire hit them all. Three survived. Gennie was the lone fatality.

#MGVM #artactivism #portraits ##Marcherstories

What sends needles through my heart is that Carter Scott is not the youngest Marcher I have painted.

#MGVM #portraits #gunvictims

After losing his son and spending months in recovery, one wonders if Rashad ever considered doing some things differently. The answer is no. Four years later, Rashad was killed in a similar ambush. I have no photo of Rashad, thus I'm unable to paint him too.

#MGVM #Marcherstories

Despite bystanders doing their best to help until emergency vehicles arrived, Carter's little soft body was no match for a semi automatic weapon. He never made it to the hospital.

#MGVM #victimsofgunviolence #Marcherstories

During the ride, Rashad got a call on his mobile to meet someone in a parking lot lined with bushes. It was a trap. No sooner had Rashad parked when 3 shooters emerged, guns blazing. Rashad was hit multiple times. Carter was struck once.

#MGVM #gunviolence #portraits

Portrait of gun victim Carter Scott (2012-2013), oil on canvas, 9"X 12", painted 2013. The toddler sits on the fresh grass. The day is cloudless. His smiling face is turned slightly left. A big balloon with his name and dates of birth and death is connected with string to his right hand. His arms encircle a new puppy, full of joy at having this forever friend.

Carter Scott was 13 months old in May of 2013. He is the 11th Marcher portrait in the series. I can only imagine the life of a toddler just starting to take their first steps. Just before Memorial Day, Carter was strapped in his car seat, while his father Rashad drove.

#MGVM #portraits

During the past 12 years painting forgotten and ignored gun victims mainly in my city, certain repeat scenarios happen. These are the sub groups within the main story. I'd like to present MGVM subgroups. I start with "Not the Intended Target" group.

#MGVM #gun violence #portraits

One of these two buildings are the address where the shooting of James Smith the Third happened January 3rd, 1997. They sit less than half a mile (2/3 kilometer) from my house. I thought surely something will be done to legally protect children from gun violence. I'm less naive today.

#MGVM

Now the portraits approach 300 Marchers. Over the course of this year, I'll upload those portraits of Marchers who gave me difficult challenges. I am indebted to them for becoming a better artist. This will happen every two or three days as I still paint more.

#MGVM #artactivist #portraits.

"A little child will lead them". How fitting that this small child becomes the first Marcher for the project of a lifetime, a crusade to portray forgotten and ignored gun victims and gift them to loved ones as a tool to transform suffering.

vilonah.life

#gunvictims #artactivist #MGVM