FRED & FARID Fight Gun Violence with Creativity

To combat the victimisation of young black men and raise awareness of gun violence, a collective of multi-ethnic and multi-disciplinary artists came together to create #NoMoreBlackTargets in partnership with New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Together they created a book to change the way black silhouetted targets that shooters learn to use a firearm on are perceived, calling to question whether the use of the colour black creates a dangerous unconscious bias that could result in young black men being more likely to be shot at.

In the case study film from FRED & FARID released yesterday, the statistic ‘last year in America, 263 black men were killed by guns’ is presented on-screen to suggest that the number of non-violent and non-armed black men killed in the US and the colour of the target are linked.

The artists redecorated the targets to highlight this fact and reinterpret gun violence, turning the shapes into colourful art pieces instead.

Each piece was exhibited at an exhibition at Richard Taittinger art gallery which launched during Black History Month earlier this year (in February).

The aim of the project is to remove the stereotypical black silhouette by getting people to sign the petition and contribute their own design onto a simple downloadable template. For more info visit No More Black Targets.