Justiça para Rainha Marielle/Justice for Queen Marielle

Marielle Franco was a freedom fighter from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro who fought for Afro Brazilian rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised. In 2018, as a sitting Rio City Councilperson, she was assassinated in cold blood.

Marielle and the subject of my last “Queen” poster, Breonna Taylor, were killed exactly two years apart! Just one day off—Marielle on March 14, 2018 and Breonna on March 13, 2020. The plight of African people throughout the diaspora is interconnected. Marielle’s killing is still “unsolved” but it is akin to the terrorism that is killing Black and brown people in the US and goes often unpunished, as in Breonna’s case (at least so far).

Today (July 27, 2020) would have been Marielle’s 41st birthday. My contribution to keeping her memory alive is this poster. It was my honor send these posters as a gift to Marielle’s sister Anielle and her comrade Carol. They will arrive today. They will be making them available in Brazil through the foundation that honors Marielle’s legacy. 

I hope this poster inspires people learn more about Marielle and to begin to think about our struggle in more international terms. I‘ve sent to Brazil copies of the Breonna print and I have sent copies of the Marielle print to Louisville Kentucky for protestors there. We will be working on more of each and plan to do more of the same, as well as get batches to other cities.

Please CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE MARIELLE FRANCO INSTITUTE.

As with Breonna I’M MAKING THIS MARIELLE PRINT AVAILABLE AS A FREE DOWNLOAD at the bottom of this page. I invite you to use it in protests where you live or to just enjoy it as artwork that lifts up a fallen champion.

I am very grateful to those who’ve been helping me on this project. In the US: I’m especially grateful to my dear friend Rachel Harding, scholar and writer, who spearheaded my relationships with the Afro-Brazilian community; thanks to Sharrelle Barber, epidemiologist, who helped me get a feeling for what Marielle’s energy was like in person. Sharrelle met her hours before she was killed and is producing the short film honoring Marielle called “I, a Black Woman, Resist.” (twitter.com/MarielleResists)

In Brazil: Special thanks to Jurema Werneck, Director of Amensty International Brazil; Carol Lourenço of Co-Founder of Mulheres Negras Decidem (Black Women Decide) and of course to Anielle Franco. (Congrats Anielle on the new baby!)

Thanks to all the talented printmakers in the Pyramid Atlantic community who have been helping on this “Queens” project: Chelsae Blackman, Korey Richardson, John Ortiz, Brian Dunn, Adi Segal, and Eliza Clifford. 

Thanks to Melissa Ezelle for helping coordinate all the printmakers working on the project. Thanks to Zoma Wallace for the statement accompanying the prints.

Download the Poster.

Complete the form below to download a PDF of the “Justiça para Rainha Marielle” Poster. By clicking “Submit” on this form you are agreeing to these terms: You are permitted to digitally reproduce this poster for use in protests or just as artwork to have. You are agreeing that you will not setup online stores selling the poster and that you will not modify the artwork. Thank you for your support of this project and for standing up for justice throughout the diaspora.