Analysis Of Trayvon Martin's 17 Years Boy

Everyone’s coping skills are different - whether it be under stress, adjusting to new situations, or in the process of grieving - and each person has their own way by which they express their coping to others - by yelling, isolating themselves, or even through art. As a professor and artist at Westfield State University, Imo Imeh wielded performance art to turn the concept of grieving into an engaging visual, audible, and immersive experience central to Trayvon Martin’s death in 2012 titled “17 Years Boy.”
A really beautiful aspect of art is in its ability to be ambiguous. While the artist has a set purpose, a set goal in mind of what they’d like to convey through their piece - and may even directly tell others the message they’re trying to
All of these aspects of the project influenced my own visual interpretation of the art, which continually evolved as I came across a new aspect of the work. Trayvon Martin wasn’t just portrayed by his face in the painting - he was portrayed in the written words of those angry tweets, in the faces of loved ones and everyone in the courtroom during the case trial, and as a reflection of the deaths of the other 17 boys, with the oldest case being over nearly a century ago. When I realized this, it elevated my understanding of the countless ways in which people are embodied and remembered, even if there isn’t an actual picture of that person
Giving each person the invitation that either had the recipient cut or watch others cut the canvas spoke volumes about not only Trayvon Martin’s death, but the deaths of boys just like the 17 others hanging in that room. As a person who “watched them cut,” the message I took away from this part of the process was that those who watched others cut the canvas did nothing to stop what was happening to the canvas (as no one stopped what happened to the boys), and those that cut were the destroyers, deconstructing Trayvon’s 17 years of life into 17 pieces. This act of cutting up the canvas inevitably also portrayed Trayvon with a focus in the way he is remembered, placing emphasis on the representation of his actual