Works of art by
Tracy Simpson
Artist Statement - Tracy Simpson
These works, part of my “Witness” series, were made in 2016 looking back on 2015, a year like most years in the United States when the scourge of gun violence took a heavy toll.
Shoot First
Monotype, acrylic on paper (aka “potato prints”)
Tracy Simpson 2015
https://www.tracy-simpson.com/portfolio/witness/
It is in this context of mass shootings, school shootings, and firearm deaths by suicide, that I felt the need to create a visual representation of each of the 1,120 people in the U.S. who were fatally shot by police in 2015, along with the 42 police officers who were killed in the line of duty that year (“Shoot First”). Each red dot represents a person. I sat for long stretches considering all the human beings who didn’t get to have good deaths, whose potential selves ended abruptly in violence. Some were Black, some Hispanic, some Indigenous, some White. Some were unarmed, some armed. Some were committing crimes and some were not committing crimes. All were existing until they weren’t. They could have been my brother. I don’t know each person’s story, but each has a place in the image and in my heart.
Only In America
Monotype, acrylic on paper (aka “potato prints”)
Tracy Simpson 2015
https://www.tracy-simpson.com/portfolio/witness/
“Only In America” attempts to hold space for the mentally ill people who were fatally shot by police in 2015 - approximately one-fourth of the people killed by police that year in the U.S.. Both as the sister of a mentally ill Black man who has been picked up by police more than once, and as a clinical psychologist who works with veterans, my strong belief is that we in the U.S., as a nation, are not providing an adequate safety net for those with major mental illnesses. In the decade since 2015, while the overall number of persons killed by police has risen (to 1,200 in 2025), the proportion who were known to be mentally ill has declined to 1 in 10 or about 120 (https://policeviolencereport.org/) – progress, yes, but not nearly enough.