Chicago suburb mural thought to depict lynching scene, should it be taken down?

[Humpy]

Why did the artist darken the white people's skin and give them angry eyes and hideously disfigured scowling faces?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Why did the artist darken the white people's skin and give them angry eyes and hideously disfigured scowling faces?

Lynchings frequently happened at night? People who are trying to kill you usually look angry/scary? Artistic License?

 

[Linux23]

well, it depends on where you stand on that side of that mural. white, not so much effect on your ancestry, if black, well.....

 

[Humpy]

Lynchings frequently happened at night? People who are trying to kill you usually look angry/scary? Artistic License?

In the photograph the white people are their usual pale smiley happy selves. This is the same crap that Time magazine did to OJ.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I find the mural much more interesting knowing that it's based on a photo of a lynching. Something bland and mundane that my eye would normally slide over without even really registering it turns out to have another, darker aspect that only reveals itself if someone happens to be familiar with a certain photograph.

Now I find myself examining the faces of the people in the mural, searching for some sign of the horror going on behind them when I wouldn't have given it a second glance otherwise. Is the hardness I see in the set of their mouths and eyes my imagination; Just a projection of my knowledge of the context onto the painting? Or is it there intentionally as perhaps the only clue left behind by the artist as to the true subject of the mural? Who knows? Contemplating these questions doesn't mean I'm in favor of lynchings. It is way more interesting than if the mural was based on something less provocative though.

 

[SKORPI0]

Mural "as it is" doesn't depict any lynching at all. All you see is one guy with his arm raised amongst a crowd.

While based on a historical event, people wouldn't care anything more without knowing the story behind it.

Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith

 

[effowe]

lol. Fucking sky. Look at it! I'm so mad.

On a side note, I was born and raised in that town.

 

[pete6032]

They took it down and put it into storage.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160617/news/160619021/

 

[zinfamous]

They took it down and put it into storage.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160617/news/160619021/

Well, that's highly disappointing. Hopefully the Art Institute will take it and display it prominently...though it seems like more of a piece for one of the Smithsonian history museums.