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kottke.org posts about Alexis Franklin

Breonna Taylor on the Cover of Oprah Magazine

Ever since O, The Oprah Magazine launched back in 2000, founder Oprah Winfrey has been featured on every single cover. Until now. For the September issue, the magazine is featuring an illustration of Breonna Taylor, who was murdered in her apartment in March by three Louisville police officers.

Oprah Breonna Taylor

Winfrey writes in an introduction to the issue:

I think about Breonna Taylor often. She was the same age as the two daughter-girls from my school in South Africa who’ve been quarantining with Stedman and me since March. In all their conversations I feel the promise of possibilities.

Their whole lives shine with the light of hopefulness. That was taken away from Breonna in such a horrifying manner.

Imagine if three unidentified men burst into your home while you were sleeping. And your partner fired a gun to protect you. And then mayhem.

What I know for sure: We can’t be silent. We have to use whatever megaphone we have to cry for justice.

And that is why Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O magazine.

I cry for justice in her name.

The illustration of Taylor is by Dallas digital artist Alexis Franklin.

Update: Franklin wrote about the process of working on Taylor’s portrait.

Working as a digital portrait artist, I reimagine an existing image and can quickly switch moods or colors. The original photo is one Breonna took herself and has been featured in the news many times. Looking at it, I see an innocence, simple but powerful. It was critical for me to retain that. And there was a sparkle in Breonna’s eyes-a young Black woman posing in her Louisville EMS shirt, happy to be alive.