The newly rebuilt gazebo dedicated to the late Tamir Rice
© Cleveland.com
The gazebo where the 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by the police while playing with a pellet gun in 2014 has been temporarily rebuilt in Chicago by Theaster Gates's Stony Island Arts Bank, just days before what would have been the boy's 17th birthday.
Rices fatal shooting in Cleveland by the Ohio police officer Timothy Loehmann made national headlines both because of the unarmed boy's age and the growing unrest over the disproportionate level of police violence enacted against black males in the US.
Since Rices death, the gazebo had become a memorial for the community to leave cards, flowers and stuffed toys devoted to the sixth grader, as well as to reflect on wider issues of systemic racism and inequality. After the Cleveland city council ordered the gazebos demolition in 2016, Tamirs mother Samaria Rice enlisted the help of the Chicago-based artist and activist Theaster Gates to help preserve the structure dedicated to her childs memory.
The entire structure was disassembled that year by the Rebuild Foundation, Gatess non-profit focused on community arts projects in Chicagos South Side, and placed in the Stony Island Arts Bank, the foundations repository and exhibition space. The gazebos wooden beams and the memorabilia left by mourners have existed for two and a half years within a temporary exhibition Objects of Care: Material Memorial for Tamir Rice. Now, days before what would have been Tamir's 17th birthday on 25 June, the gazebo has been fully reconstructed on the lawn of the arts centre and dedicated to the memory of Tamir.
“We recognise that because of the history of violent acts against young black males in cities by the police, that this gazebo is a national memRead More – Source
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