BLACK OUT STORIES| Sebastien Ibeagha

The Blackout Collection with the BPC and Participation Trophy Studio allowed me to take some time and reflect on everything that has happened in 2020. These pictures were taken in Two Bridges which, to me, presents two phases I believe I’m currently stuck between

The Past: George Floyd, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, systemic racism, Sandra Bland, Pamela Turner, the list goes on and on. The past represents all the pain, troubles, and hardships that we have had to overcome, or ignore, or accept as a people and a culture.

The Future: Hope. Creating a future that the color of one’s skin does not determine their value as a person. Creating a culture that realizes and accepts that this true equality is not the only way to move forward but the best way.

Being an immigrant has me deeply rooted and stuck in the middle of these two bridges because I saw the sacrifice that my parents went through to bring my family to the US. Seeing that makes me want to push for the future, push for that hope. However, seeing a culture that repeatedly looks down on me because my skin is darker makes me want to cling to that past. Get numb to it all over again but I know  that’s not the way.

2020 was a rebirth. A rebirth in my desire to break the barriers that are holding us down. A rebirth to create that hope and to push for future generations so that they don’t have to turn on the news and seeing senseless killings of people that look just like them. I may be currently stuck between those two bridges, but I have all the faith that I will continue to push for the betterment of this world for future generations.

That is what the Blackout Collection means to me.