Stay Safe by Black Meherrin artist Morgan Overton

Stay Safe by Black Meherrin artist Morgan Overton

Overton’s painting “Stay Safe” draws together several threads of the Pittsburgh coronavirus context that implores us to find connections across our city’s communities. But we must also recognize that Black and Brown communities are impacted the hardest by this pandemic. Overton explains: “These communities face disproportionate pre-existing conditions—the intersection of systemic racism, classism, and historic repression of social mobility. This has influenced the social determinants of health in these communities, and it is time we use this pandemic as a case study as to how all these factors have led us to this current reality.”

View a high resolution version of Overton's painting

Watch Overton discuss her painting with Alexa Woloshyn

Recommended listening while viewing:
“Ahiani: Elsewhere” by Inuit duo Piqsiq, who explain: “people who might be compromised are having a hard time so let's self-isolate not just for us but for them too.”
 
Proudly from Pittsburgh, PA, Morgan Overton holds a degree in psychology with a minor in studio art from the University of Pittsburgh. She believes empowerment and resistance come in many forms, art being one—a platform of social change and powerful narratives. Her work widely uplifts the leaders of freedom movements who came before us, but also unsung everyday heroes of today who carry forth such legacies. The common theme in her work is to uplift excellence that has been silenced for too long. Through her work in social justice on and off the canvas, Morgan strives to represent the seven generations of Black and Indigenous greatness before and after her, unapologetically.