"Boston Strong?" Art Show at Community Church of Boston, April 15-22

Local artists Darrell Ann Gane-McCalla, Shea Justice, and Jason Pramas have some problems with the "Boston Strong" slogan.

So they are responding with a one-week pop-up art show called Boston Strong? from April 15-22, 2014 in the Lothrop Auditorium at the Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St. 2nd Flr. in Copley Square.

A community opening with speakers including Mel King, Tina Chéry of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, and hip hop poet Ant Thomas - will be held on April 15 from 7-9 p.m., and a traditional art opening will be held on April 18 from 6-10 p.m. There will be other viewing hours Thursday, April 17 from 12-4 p.m. and Sunday, April 20 from 3-7 p.m. 

The exhibition is co-sponsored by the Community Church of Boston, and is free and open to the public.

The purpose of the show is to spark public discussion and debate about the meaning of the popular "Boston Strong" slogan. The artists contend that there is a disparity between media coverage of the victims of last year's tragic Boston Marathon bombing, many of whom are white and live outside Boston, and media coverage of the victims of ongoing criminal assaults around Boston, many of whom are people of color and live in the city. Over 40 people have been killed in Boston, mostly by guns, since the Marathon Bombings. But there is no outpouring of sympathy and financial support for those victims' families from around the Greater Boston area, and little serious talk of ameliorating the poverty that causes crime in Boston's working class neighborhoods of color.

Boston Strong? - through its artwork and public dialogue - will address this imbalance, point out that a more democratic society would not separate people into worthy and unworthy victims based on race, class and geography ... and demonstrate that the two groups of victims actually have a great deal in common, and should find ways to work together to help find solutions to the global inequities that lead to both bombing attacks and street shootings.

Participating artists include:

Darrell Ann Gane-McCalla. An artist, educator, and Cambridge native working to envision and create radical social change. She will be presenting charcoal sketches over newspaper collage.

Shea Justice. An artist, graduate of Boston University and the Lesley University College of Art and Design (formerly the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University), member of African American Master Artists-in-Residency Program at Northeastern University, and Boston native. He will be presenting large collages using some of the series of topical pen-and-ink drawings that he has been producing on current events for over a decade.

Jason Pramas. An artist, photojournalist, graduate of UMass Boston and the Lesley University College of Art and Design, and Boston and Peabody native living in Cambridge. He will be presenting a work of conceptual art based on his research on the six major corporations that donated one million dollars apiece to the One Fund. Pramas is also editor/publisher of Open Media Boston.

The exhibition's Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/events/758486360851055/. 

Its website is: http://www.questionbostonstrong.com/.