New Favorite Tumblr: Faces of the Movement

With numerous powerful Moral Monday actions across the United States this week, another declared state of emergency in St. Louis, and the continued arrests and harassment of countless activists, it only makes sense to take some time and recognize the individuals who keep this work going.

Faces of the Movement does just that. It shares the faces of everyday people across the country. It highlights how they’ve poured their time, livelihoods, and lives into sustaining the nationwide efforts that have grown since last August 9th. It reminds us that activism is not reserved for some superhero we must wait for, but is an attainable goal responsibility for each of us — achieved through incremental steps. And it manages to achieve this monumental task beautifully through a simple means:

A photo a day.

This movement, this work, these protests were never optional for me.  Mike went to one of the schools where I place teachers.  All of our children belong to all of us.  I have a responsibility to defend their dignity. I am because they are. So some might say that this movement is outside of my job description.  That I’m out of my depth. On the contrary – our children have stood in the middle of this and they have led me.  I am exactly where I need to be. And by God’s grace and the power of the people, we will make equity reality. -Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti)

Curated by activist Charles Wade, shot by Attilio D’Agostino, and designed by De Nichols, the photo series is powerful and unsurprisingly, feature a whole lotta awesome women.

I grew up learning how to suppress myself and express myself about things that matter to me—and what happened in August 2014 was one of many moments that solidified my commitment to always telling the truth no matter who or what it costs me. And biting my tongue about the aspects of white supremacy is not something I can do. Calling it out is uncomfortable, but you get better every time you give yourself a chance to grow out of old, ugly, harmful habits. -Alexis (@only1alexis)

And while the project had breaked from posting this summer, it is back this month, beautiful and poignant as ever.  It is also featured at IMPTXDESIGN.14/15, a month-long exhibit at the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis that just opened this past weekend on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown, Jr.’s killing. The series just announced it will be back to posting online soon.

In the meantime, end up spending an hour on your phone scrolling through portrait after portrait here and here. I’ll leave you with one my favorite captions by Jessie (@slenderbutter) of Black Brown Solidarity and the Artivists STL:

Don’t be afraid – get ready <3.