M Artin l uther K ing J r .
January 16, 2019
2019 special edition
Page 35
Creating Social-Justice Themed Artwork
C ontinueD froM p age 31
in Ferguson, Mo., and of Eric Gar-
ner, the black man who died in
Staten Island, New York after an
officer put him a headlock while
arresting him that same year.
Okamoto even had a surreal
meeting with President Donald
Trump, whom she calls a “dema-
gogue,” in the White House over
the summer as part of being hon-
ored as a presidential scholar.
Though she agonized over
whether to even attend the meet-
ing, as she views the President’s
policies as counter to her mission
as an activist, she ultimately de-
cided to go.
But in order to show Trump
was not “untouchable,” the young
artist said she wore an all white
outfit punctuated with the names
of victims of police violence, the
dates of their deaths, symbols of
the indictment process, and the
names of the officers involved if
they were acquitted.
“I was asked multiple times to
change by so many different peo-
ple. But I stood my ground,” Oka-
moto remembered.
As a digital artist, the canvas
for Okamoto’s art is electronic.
She said she was happy to have
discovered the medium given its
proclivity for being able to be re-
produced for protests.
“I started creating work for
Black Lives Matter, which was a
huge part of what I was passionate
about. And I got in contact with
Teressa Raiford, who runs Don’t
Shoot Portland, and I just started
creating work with them,” the art-
ist remembered.
“It’s the perfect medium for our
time today where there’s such a big
sues later on. In 2007, she moved
to Portland, the whitest major
city in America, a transition that
was difficult for her as a person
of color, she said.
She said it was super-jarring,
“Coming from New York City,
this Mecca for diversity.”
In high school, Okamoto ad-
vocated for other classmates im-
pacted by mental health issues.
She volunteered as a suicide and
crisis hotline operator and as stu-
dent peer sex educator for Planned
Parenthood in Portland.
Now, the young activist is back
living in New York City as a vol-
unteer eighth grade math teacher
for AmeriCorps. She’s taking a
gap year while taking a college
course online before entering
school full time for art at Tufts
University in Massachusetts.
When it comes to activism,
Okamoto gives a lot of credit to
Raiford, who “passed the mega-
phone” to her, both literally and
metaphorically, during last year’s
Reclaim Dr. King March in Port-
land on the 50th anniversary of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assas-
sination.
During the April demonstra-
tion, Okamoto led the crowd in
a chant and facilitated other kids’
testimony of experiencing racism
or sharing their poems or songs.
“To be able to stand there and
a rtWorK C ourtesy a Meya o KaMoto work with those kids and realize
Ameya Okamoto’s portrait of Quanice Hayes, an unarmed black 17-year-old who was killed by
that even though you have the
Portland Police in February 2017. The artwork was carried in protests by Don’t Shoot Portland and
megaphone, passing it is the most
Black Lives Matter Portland following Hayes’ death. Okamoto even participated in the protests and
important thing that I think some-
presented the portrait to Hayes’ family at his memorial.
one can do,” she said.
need for globalization of thoughts
Okamoto moved around a lot cio-economic household under a
For more information about
and idea around equity and diver- as a kid. That, combined with single parent, caused her to strug- Okamoto and her artwork, visit
sity. Because we’re in a digital age the stress of living in a low so- gle with some mental health is- ameyamarie.com.
and you can just screenshot and
share,” Okamoto said.
a rtWorK C ourtesy a Meya o KaMoto
A digital portrait of Taliesin Namkai-Meche by Portland social
justice artist Ameya Okamoto showcases one of the two victims
who were fatally stabbed on a MAX train in northeast Portland
in 2017 while trying to stop a man’s xenophobic and racist slurs
directed at two young girls.