Black Lives Matter in Japan, an exhibition organized by Awich, features a lineup of splendid artists!

The slogan "Black Lives Matter" was spread around the world in connection with the death of George Floyd, a black man who was improperly restrained by police officers.

The event has crossed oceans and gained a great deal of attention here in Japan, and in an effort to further spread awareness of the event, rapper Awich has stepped up to organize an art exhibition, "Black Lives Matter Charity Exhibition "Unity ." The exhibition will be held at the "Black Lives Matter Charity Exhibition "Unity"" in Tokyo, Japan.

This exhibition features works created by Awich in collaboration with BlackEyePatch, a leading Tokyo street brand, and filmmaker Takuto Shimpo, who has created many of her music videos.

In addition, the lineup includes works by up-and-coming artists representing the Tokyo street scene such as Bobby Yamamoto (YouthQuake), GUAPULAR, GUCCIMAZE, Jun Inagawa, Yuki Nakajo, and UTOPIE, an art unit consisting of Kosuke Kawamura and YOSHIROTTEN. The lineup is packed with highlights.

On the occasion of the exhibition, Awich, the organizer of the event, expressed his thoughts on the exhibition as follows.

The hashtag "Black Lives Matter," which began with the 2013 shooting of Trayvon Martin, has grown into a global protest movement with the 2020 murder of George Floyd. With the global Corona disaster also coinciding, what got me thinking was how we should feel about the many issues that humanity will face in the future, such as discrimination and pandemics. Will each race and nation isolate themselves and fight each other over freedom, wealth, and resources for themselves alone, or will human beings transcend the boundaries of the past and tackle each problem in global unity? . I believe that the decisions we make now may shape the world in the future.
So we choose Unity = Unity. . It's not pretty. I believe that racial and national boundaries are a figment of our nature. We are all human beings. If we understand each other, the fictional partitions will be torn down. This exhibition was realized with the cooperation of many artists based on this belief. I send my sincere appreciation and respect to all of you who supported this project. And this time, my daughter, Yomi Jah, as a person with black blood and as a child who has experienced the loss of her father, exhibited her paintings with her thoughts and feelings. Please come and see this exhibition, which is filled with our thoughts and feelings about "Unity"!

Incidentally, T-shirts bearing the double names of Awich and Black Eyepatch will be sold at the event, and the proceeds will be donated to the Vail Fund, which supports the bail and legal fees of blacks who have been wrongfully arrested.

Please take this opportunity to think carefully about the meaning of "Black Lives Matter" through the medium of art.