HS students' art represents Chicago violence

June 7, 2012 (CHICAGO)

There are over 100 prints, each representing the life of a Chicago murder victim.

The prints represent the lives of young people murdered last year.

The students of Uplift Community High School were given the assignment by their art teacher, Laura Mullkoff, to choose someone under the age of 20 who was killed.

"It gives us an idea of the violence in Chicago and people getting killed for no reason everywhere," said 15-year-old student Bushra Shahid.

The students created a linoleum relief print to represent a young person who was killed through the use of image and text.

"My cousin died at 17 from being shot in the back," said student Eleale Pickett. "I really loved him and he was too young to die."

"We need to stop violence in our community and inspire our youth to wake up and take responsibility," said student Briana Johnson.

Mulkoff said that Chicago area teens are surrounded by violence on a daily basis and some of them are personally touched by it. That's why this project was so important.

"It affects students on a daily basis we need to do something about it," said Mulkoff. "We focused on 2011, the year there were 126 youths who were killed between age 0 to 20."

The instillation creates a robust dialogue among the students and staff.

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