‘(Re)Framing Protest’: Photo exhibition shows 2020 protests in different light

Emily Richardson, Contributing Writer

New exhibition, “(Re)Framing Protest: Design and Hope,” features photography from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond.

Regina Boone and Sandra Sellars, photographers with the Richmond Free Press, partnered with The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design to display photos that depict the non-confrontational side of the protests, they said.

“(Re)Framing Protest” shows how art, design and community can give a voice to social unrest, according to the Branch Museum’s website. Photos in the gallery feature signs made by protestors and works of graffiti created during the summer of 2020.

“The Branch is an important place to have this conversation because it is the only cultural institution facing the monument,” Sharon Aponte, Executive Director of the Branch Museum, said.

As a museum of art and design, Aponte said the Branch chose to focus on Boone and Sellars’ work that emphasized different art strategies used during the protests. 

“We wanted to shift the language and talk about the art and design that they had captured in their photos,” Aponte said.

The exhibit shows exactly what they saw on the streets during the protests, Boone said.

“Of course, we were covering everything, but there was a community that used art, of all forms, to fight for justice — intentionally,” Boone said.

Both Boone and Sellars are Black women, which Boone noted as an important piece in the narrative of the exhibition.

“Often, in photos, you’re looking through the eyes of a white man,” Boone said. “To see something that’s so local, that’s in our backyard — an issue that we have been reporting at the Richmond Free Press; this is not a new narrative for us.”

The pair captured photos of the protests for more than 65 days in the summer of 2020, Sellers said. In that time, Sellars said she noticed the relationships that formed between members of the community.

“Some of the people, you would see them every day,” Sellars said. “They would come out and do a lot of things together. Whether it was educational sit-ins, concerts or drum circles, there was always a sense of community and it just felt like family.”

Sellars said she hopes visitors to the exhibition can see this sense of community in their photos.

“There is more to protesting than marching,” Sellars said. “There has to be a sense of camaraderie in order for things to be successful.” 

Sellars said this unity comes through in the photos on display in the exhibition.

“I’ve talked to people during the summer of 2020 who were afraid to go down there [to Richmond] because of what they’d seen on TV,” Sellars said. 

The exhibit gives visitors a chance to change their perception of the protests, according to Sellars. 

“It does show that there’s more than one way to look at a situation and I would like for people to get that from going to see this exhibition,” Sellars said.

“(Re)Framing Protest: Design and Hope” is on display until Sept. 11. The Branch Museum is open to everyone, according to the Branch Museum’s website.