S. Ross Browne, American
Because (Racial Synecdoche), 2015
S. Ross Browne painted an image illustrating the unproportionate effects of environmental justice faced by people of color. Browne shows an African American man holding a young child, who can be assumed to be his son, in front of a city that seems to be in distress with buildings on fire, smoke, and helicopters flying around. The despair in the subjects’ faces convey the hardships and environmental injustices faced by African American families and communities. In this picture, Browne is specifically indicating those injustices faced by populations of color in urban areas. Label by Lindsey Smith