- Photograph by
- Oliver, Tommy, American, born 1984
- Subject of
- Mattie, Corie
- Unidentified Man or Men
- Unidentified Woman or Women
- Floyd, George Perry Jr., American, 1973 - 2020
- Date
- June 14, 2020
- Medium
- digital
- Dimensions
- H x W: 4480 pixels × 6720 pixels
- File size: 172.29 MB
- Caption
- Photographer Tommy Oliver is an award-winning producer and cinematographer in television and film. Best known for his 2020 documentary 40 Years a Prisoner on HBO, his docuseries Black Love (2017–2020) on OWN, and his feature film The Perfect Guy (2015), Oliver challenges audiences to question their assumptions about race, gender, and family. The film Kinyarwanda (2011), which Oliver co-produced, weaves together narratives of resilience during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It won the Sundance Film Festival’s award for World Cinema Drama and was recognized as one of the top 10 films of 2011. This photograph is part of a broader portfolio of images taken during Black Lives Matter rallies in Los Angeles between May 31 and June 14, 2020.
- Description
- A digital, black-and-white image of a banner by Corie Mattie displayed during the All Black Lives Matter march in Hollywood, California. The image was taken by Tommy Oliver during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd. The image depicts the large white banner tethered to a chain link fence that forms a wall of a multi-storied, concrete parking garage. Painted, stenciled, large, black text across the front of the banner reads [RACISM IS A / PANDEMIC.]. On the left side of the banner, slightly over the letter “R” in [RACISM], is partially visible, reversed, upside down, white stenciled text that also reads [RACISM / IS A / PANDEMIC / #[LAHOPE?]DEALER]. On the right are two stenciled illustrations of doves in flight and above a black, hand painted initials and a black, stenciled hashtag in the bottom right corner that reads [CM #LAHOPEDEALER]. Mattie is clinging to the fencing to the left of the sign, photographing it with her cell phone. She is wearing a black shirt T-shirt, striped shorts, sunglasses, square shaped drop earrings, a bandana around her neck, a black face mask with a white graphic, and a light tone backpack over her shoulders. The initials [CM] tattooed on her proper right hand matches the [CM] painted in the bottom right corner of the banner. Below this sign at street level are the heads of a group of protesters, many of whom are wearing face masks, or other types of protective face coverings, and a couple of protesters carrying protest signs. There is a parked car visible inside the parking garage.
- Place captured
- Hollywood, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Photographs and Still Images
- Movement
- Black Lives Matter
- Type
- digital images
- digital media - born digital
- Topic
- Activism
- Art
- Justice
- Photography
- Police brutality
- Race relations
- Resistance
- U.S. History, 2001-
- Urban life
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Tommy and Codie Oliver
- Object number
- 2021.31.68
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Tommy Oliver
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




