In late 2015, the American artist Deana Lawson—celebrated for her powerful representations of blackness and collective memory—was commissioned by Time magazine to make a series of portraits depicting the families of those who lost their lives in the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina that same year. Pictured here is Gracie Broome, the grandmother of Clementa Pinckney, a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, who sits in her living room with a photograph of her grandson. “The specific details of domestic spaces give visual dimension and texture towards the personal and emotional space of the [victims’] families,” Lawson told Aperture. “[This] home had all the grandeur and warmth of a southern country home. The wallpaper, carpet and mint green colouring welcomed us inside, along with Mother Broome’s quiet and regal spirit.”
