COLORS: Nyanza is a 20 year old illustrator from London.
what is your artistic process? what materials/software, if any, do you use?
It’s very basic. I just sketch down ideas on my drawing pad, and when I’ve finished, I scan it with my Epson Workforce printer to my laptop. After that I just edit it on Adobe Photoshop CS6 and tweak it. And that’s it.
how often do your characters’ expressions mirror your feelings?
I’d say that characters mirror my feelings quite a bit. A few of my pieces explicitly depict themes of liberation (i.e.:‘Get Free’), and that is something that’s really important to me in order for me to stay mentally balanced. As a young black woman, I’m pretty restricted in terms of the ‘rules’ society provides for us. We’ve always had a history of being categorised and boxed in by everyone. I’ve been told by quite a few people that I’m a free-spirited person, and I think that mainly comes from the way my Mum raised me. She taught us to be open-minded and she wasn’t overbearing, and it was great because she still taught us about the real world. I think exploring freedom at some point of your life - whether it’s anything artistic/creative or personally- is essential for a peace of mind.
are any of your characters based on people you’ve encountered?
A lot of the people I’ve drawn are based on people I’ve seen around. ‘Chantelle’ in particular is based on women I used to see all the time when I was about 5 years old in London. Here in London we call that the ‘UK garage era’, because that genre of music was huge in the early 2000s. I remember always seeing platform Skechers, the Croydon facelift, slicked baby hair and that Nokia brick phone and all that stuff around that time. Other people [that I’ve drawn] are based on people who, when I was younger, I thought I was gonna be at a certain age. When I was about 8/9, I thought I was gonna have pink or green hair and dress like a crossover between a witch, Baby or Scary Spice and this WWE female wrestler who I love called Lita. It’s so funny, because nowadays so many people are channelling all those looks.The feeling of nostalgia is really comforting to me, I love it! It’s really shaped my style. I also like the fact that I’m toying with these ideas I’ve had in my head since I was a child. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to it too. One of my main goals as an artist is to fill the void by showing people who aren’t always presented in contemporary art. I think Tumblr is a great website that showcases people that aren’t ordinarily seen in the media, and some of my characters are influenced by the people I see on there, because they have such a natural demeanor and aura.
Protect dark skinned little girls who are still developing their confidence.
Protect dark skinned children who have one or two colorstruck parent(s).
Protect fat, dark skinned women.
Protect Trans dark skinned women.
Protect dark skinned girls who don’t have European features l
Protect dark skinned girls who speak up for themselves and get called all types of bitches and roaches while their lighter counterparts do the same and are revered.
protect dark skinned bi women
Protect dark skinned women who are victims of police brutality, sexual assault, abuse and domestic violence that come forward and need your support because they’re dying inside.
Protect the dark skin girls who are labeled as “ratchet” or “ghetto” for being carefree!
Texas police caught in an enormous lie about their murder of unarmed mother Yvette Smith
Sep 18, 2015 2:02pm EDT by Shaun King
On February 16, 2014, Yvette Smith, a 47-year-old mother beloved by her family and community, was shot twice by an AR-15 assault rifle and killed on the spot by local police as she opened the front door of her home. A full 18 months later, as her case finally came before a jury, it’s disturbingly clear that the police lied, repeatedly, in an attempt to cover up their murder of Smith.
First off, Smith called 911 for help because two men in her home were arguing over a financial dispute and she felt it was getting out of hand. She had nothing to do with the dispute and was an innocent bystander—a victim, even. When the police showed up, both men were already in the front yard and it appeared that the dispute was settled. This should’ve been case closed, but it wasn’t.
When Smith opened the front door of her home, she was shot twice with a high-powered .223 caliber rifle in less than two seconds by Officer Daniel Willis of Bastrop County, Texas, outside of Austin.
The lies and the coverup began immediately. The entire department was involved.
Below, see the initial statement from Sheriff Terry Pickering, issued just hours after Smith died.
As you may have seen, police not only claimed that Smith emerged from the home with a firearm, they stated that she ignored police commands. In essence, Smith came out of that house, according to police, ready to bring hellfire and damnation on police and they acted out in self-defense from an incredibly dangerous woman.
This is a lie. A complete fabrication. When Sheriff Terry Pickering issued the statement, he was fully and completely aware that Yvette Smith wasn’t armed. No weapon was found on or near her. He knew this. The officers on the scene knew this, but Sheriff Pickering issued that statement anyway. It sounded better.
Knowing that the evidence and scores of eyewitnesses saw that she was unarmed, police later retracted the statement, but have given absolutely no answers or held anyone responsible for the earlier lie—which was the primary reason given for shooting Smith in the first place.
It may be hard to believe, but the lies get worse—much worse.
As you saw in the initial statement released by police, they claimed that Smith ignored their commands. On September 17, in open court, we learned that this was also an elaborate lie told to justify police misconduct.
Deputy Scott Gaskamp, who arrived at the scene just moments before the shooting, had told investigators and written reports stating that they had ordered Smith to show them her hands, to open the door and come out of the house, Gaskamp testified Thursday.
Recordings of the incident showed no commands were ever issued.
When pressed to explain this in court, Officer Gaskamp literally admitted that he made the whole damn thing up. He also stated that he couldn’t remember telling this lie to the lead investigator, until they played him the recorded interview where he stated the lie over and over again.
Gaskamp told the court he never amended any of his reports or came forward to investigators to correct his errors. After reviewing the dashboard camera footage caught from his patrol vehicle and Willis’ vehicle, he realized his written reports were wrong and that he had never told Smith to put her hands up or issued any other command.
“I did not say those words. It must have been a figment of my imagination,” Gaskamp said.
Are you tracking this? Let me summarize it for you …
Yvette Smith called 911 for help.
She opened the front door of her home and was almost instantly shot twice by police with an AR-15 assault rifle.
The officers on the scene lied and said she was armed.
The supervising officer doubled down on the lie and spread it in a press release.
The officers then lied and said they made multiple commands that Smith ignored, but the dashcam footage shows that none of those commands were made. Not one of them.
The coverup continued …
A few weeks after the shooting, an investigation by BCSO revealed that several supervisors had modified Willis’ field training records after the shooting in an effort to make sure the records were completed accurately. A lieutenant and a sergeant were demoted to patrol deputy and five additional supervisors also faced disciplinary action because of the record changes.
Lastly, and this may be the most disturbing fact of all, it was discovered that the officer who shot and killed Smith was found incompetent by another police department.
Before working for Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Willis, 29, was employed by Travis County. A Travis County 2012 evaluation of Willis stated that Willis needed more development in handling explosive situations and in the utilization of common sense.
Yes, you read that correctly: The damn evaluation said the police officer who killed Yvette Smith struggled with “common sense,” but was hired by a neighboring department anyway.
While Officer Willis has been charged in Smith’s death, it is increasingly clear that the entire Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office conspired to protect one another and cover up this crime. All of them should be immediately fired and a statewide investigation needs to be launched into the corrupt actions that we can clearly see in the murder of Yvette Smith. http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/18/1422588/-Texas-police-caught-in-an-enormous-lie-about-their-murder-of-an-unarmed-mother-Yvette-Smith
