An artistic memorial was created by JP Moore from Atlanta. His artwork remembering the Jefferson Ten has moved so many people all across the country especially here in Buffalo because, the artist, not from this area decided to memorialize those we have lost in such a beautiful way.
JP says seeing the Buffalo Ten are the victims of this tragic massacre, I see myself, I see my aunt and my uncle, my father, my brother, it could have been any of us and as a black man, I am well aware of that and it really struck home with me. I wanted hit recent, looking at the news you see a lot of the trauma and it is a heavy weight, but to change the narrative a little bit and to shine some light, some hope, to celebrate their lives in a way that their death didn’t overshadow the way that they lived was really the intent behind creating this; to give some hope to the families of the community of Buffalo.”
When asked what he wants Buffalo to see when we look at this, JP says, “I pray it gives you strength. I pray that you see yourselves as well and that you know that there’s hope, there is hope that change will come, that there is more love in this world than hate and this one act of pure negligence for life, carelessness will not out-weigh the love that is reverberating throughout the world. We are mourning with you all and we just want you to feel strength. “
JP Moore is the founder and chief creator of JP Designs Art. He says “we partner with the faith-based community, they work with a lot of churches, gospel artists, mainstream artists as well, and I do take time to create artwork for the culture, if you will, to celebrate the lives of those we have lost, our ancestors, those who have made an impact on me personally and those who are just important to the fabric of our lives.”
Emily says you really turned this around so quickly, I mean knowing what happened here in Buffalo you must have been so moved. JP says, “I’m blown away. My doorbell rang and there was a copy of the Buffalo Challenger that I received this morning and seeing the artwork on the front cover, it is just absolutely amazing to see. Families have reached out, I have received messages from as far as Asia from people creating slide shows from the artwork so to see it making an impact, I would have never imaged in a million years, I was just doing something to share some love and shine some light and to know that it has reached so many is mind-blowing, it really is.”
