Christopher Patton

I’ve never watched the video of George Floyd being killed by a knee to the neck. I’m ashamed to admit that, but stills and short clips have been all I can take. I finished this short animation as the trial of his murderer began. It isn’t about his death, or the historical injustices and systemic inequities that made it possible, but for me it’s adjacent to them. I started with an image from Red Black & Blues, my asemic translation of a xenophobic tweet by a malicious little boy who woke to find himself president. The soundtrack too is found material: transponder feeds of police and firefighters and their dispatchers, who seem not to have forgotten, in these few minutes, that their jobs ask them to be them bodhisattvas.

WARNING: At the 2:00 mark there are several seconds of rapid flashing/flickering.

---

The Sirens

---

Christopher Patton’s second book of poetry, Dumuzi, was published in Spring 2020 by Gaspereau Press. His visual poetry has appeared in Asymptote, DIAGRAM, and Ancient Exchanges and in exhibitions at the Whatcom Museum and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. He lives in Bellingham, Washington and blogs at The Art of Compost.