Artist
Margaret Murphy
Title
Vanitas, BLM
Date2021
MediumOil on panel
Dimensions48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
Object numberDCCAH2026.048
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (901 G St NW)
DescriptionVanitas, BLM functions as both memorial and critique, commemorating lives lost to violence against communities of color. The falling name tags, each bearing the name of a deceased individual, transform the still-life into a site of collective remembrance. The use of perennial flowers underscores the ongoing and systemic nature of racialized violence, suggesting cycles of recurrence rather than isolated events. Grounded in the visual language of classical flower painting, the work uses grand classical painting techniques to reference the historical vanitas genre. Traditionally associated with the transience of life and the inevitability of death, vanitas imagery is recontextualized here to confront the contemporary injustice of wrongful deaths.
