TIME has unveiled the cover for its June 15 issue featuring an oil painting commissioned from artist Titus Kaphar. Dubbed Analogous Colors, the piece is dedicated to George Floyd and the Black community’s ongoing fight against racial inequality.
The cover showcases a Black mother carrying a child’s silhouette, which was intentionally cut out to reference Floyd calling out for his mother while he was being pinned to the ground by former White Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Additionally, the publication’s signature red border includes text for the first time, which are the names of “35 Black men and women whose deaths, in many cases by police, were the result of systemic racism and helped fuel the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement,” as stated by TIME.
Kaphar has also written a poem for the upcoming issue titled I Cannot Sell You This Painting: “Are black and loss / analogous colors in America,” he asks. “If Malcolm could not fix it, / if Martin could not fix it, / if Michael, / Sandra, / Trayvon, / Tamir, / Breonna and / Now George Floyd… /can be murdered /and nothing changes / wouldn’t it be foolish to remain hopeful? /Must I accept that this is what it means to be Black / in America?”
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