BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — On May 14th, 2022, 10 of our friends and neighbors were shot and killed at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue.
The shooting has since created dialogue regarding racism and segregation in Western New York.
To honor the lives that were lost, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum announced a new exhibition, Before and After Again.
It will be comprised of several works from local artists Julia Bottoms, Tiffany Gaines and Jillian Hanesworth.
These artists say the mass shooting took away the community's grocery store and left many hungry for months.
"On May 15th, a lot of people still went to work. On May 15th a lot of people still had to figure out how they were going to pay their rent. On May 15th people who didn't have a way to the grocery store had to make a plan on 'how am going to eat over the next month?'" said Hanesworth.
The artwork, poetry, and prose show the emptiness of family members of the Jefferson 10 who have to grieve and mourn.
"What that empty canvas is supposed to represent is what it is like to have someone leave suddenly and what it is like to have those empty spaces," said artist Julia Bottoms.
Hanesworth was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for her work with the Buffalo Bills on the "Choose Love" music video.
“Helping the community heal while addressing the very real systemic issues our community lives with is the most important responsibility an artist can face,” said Hanesworth.
The exhibition will allow artists to showcase their emotions regarding the shooting as well as their sentiments along with the sentiments of the community overall.
“There is nothing that could ever reconcile the immense tragedy and loss faced by our community, but art is powerful in that it offers space for reflection, healing, and contemplation,” said Gaines.
Bottoms says that art helps showcase both the good and bad and aims to do that in her work.
“I believe this project can hold room for a community in mourning, while simultaneously searching for joy in the memory of those lost,” stated Bottoms.
Before and After will be free of charge and on view at Buffalo AKG’s M&T Bank Gallery from March 8 to September 30, 2024.
