When I first talked to Laura Madeleine about my son who was killed in 2017, Niam K. Johnson-Tate, I was emotionally overwhelmed and missing him so much. It was difficult to speak about him at the time, but I was intrigued about her project, Souls Shot Portrait Project, which memorializes murder victims with a painted portrait. It sounded beautiful, so I met with the artist Laura paired me with. But I had no idea what to expect.
As the opening day of the exhibit drew closer, I became more fearful that someone who never knew Niam had the power to define him in death. What if I didn’t like it? What if it didn’t look like him? What if how that artist saw him wasn’t how he was in life?
Before entering the church that was hosting the exhibit, I stopped in my tracks, finally walking slowly into the building. The room was filled with so many portraits of other victims of gun violence but I quickly found Niam’s portrait and walked over to it. My first thought was to pull his portrait off the wall and run as I cried, but whatever fear I had quickly dissipated. I was blown away—with pride, with appreciation and with amazement of how wonderful this tribute was.
That is the intention of Soul Shots Portrait Project, a nonprofit organization that helps heal the community one family at a time. Like the Philly Obit Project, it’s been around since 2016, and Laura’s brilliant idea was to pair a talented artist with the victim’s loved ones. It’s not just a memorial, it also raises awareness of the crimes and puts faces with names who to the wider world just end up as statistics.
As I stood in the exhibit crying, the artist, Chenoa McDonald, quickly found me to comfort me, and then began to explain the reasons behind her creative expression. Chenoa felt it was important to place a crown on Niam’s head with seven points on it to represent the gift of life he gave to the seven recipients of his organs. She used a lot of blue which was his favorite color. It wasn’t a realistic copy of a photo, but it was better. It looked just like him. It was beautiful.
Each artist in the program is paired up with a family or friend to learn about the whole person and make a unique piece. The families are presented with a smaller size portrait as a keepsake until the family either chooses to except the original portrait or for it to remain on display at other exhibits. Soul Shots is an art show without any walls, meaning they set up exhibits throughout the city of Philadelphia and surrounding areas.
The families that choose to have their loved ones in these exhibits are overwhelmed with grief, fear, unknowing, and often are in a state of denial. When they enter an exhibit all of these feelings come out when they first see the portrait of their loved. The room is normally filled with grieving families that shed plenty of tears who can’t believe they are here in this space. It is important to Laura that each family and the community meets with the artists after the portrait is done as well. Laura also finds it important to help with healing as well as to let the community know gun violence does exist.
As the families look at the detailed work of the portrait, many are amazed that the artist listened so closely about the person, down to their favorite color as well as what they loved in life.
All of these artists volunteer their services and take pride in their work but are also overcome with grief working on these portraits. They grow an emotional bond and often the artist places all of their creativity into the portrait because they know this is a present to the families of their loved one taken too soon. The artists and families cry together.
Please contact Souls Shot Portrait Project for getting your loved one memorialized, to host an exhibit or to donate at [email protected].
Kimberly Kamara is the author of “Where’s My Daddy,” a children’s book aimed at kids who’ve lost a parent to murder. The book was inspired by her family’s continuing journey of grief after her son, Niam Johnson-Tate, lost his life to gun violence on July 5, 2017. Kimberly has two daughters and lives in Germantown with her husband.
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