American painter Jennifer Packer’s canvases of colours meld with figures that carry narratives of Black women’s resilience and vulnerability in today’s society. In her paintings Say Her Name, and Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Breonna! Breonna!), Packer has imbued the stories of Black women who have been institutionally murdered, such as Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. She tells their stories and allows spaces for complex reflections on how vulnerable Black women’s lives are in a discriminative society. She shares intersectional messages of hope for a better future, reflecting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities.
Packer's artistic process is deliberate and intimate. She takes months, even years, to complete a single painting. Her sweeping brushstrokes and soft hues aim to capture the psychological essence of her subjects. This makes her non-traditional choice of skin tones secondary to the emotional depth she conveys through these colours. For example, she can choose to represent the skin of Black people with hues of pink, red, and purple, depending on the mood and message she wishes to convey, which is something that viewers can see in her piece A Lesson in Longing.
In her first solo institutional exhibition, Tenderheaded at The Renaissance Society in Chicago, Packer delves deeper into the emotional and physical vulnerability of Black Women through her paintings. She explores individual stories in which Black women navigate the delicate balance between strength and sensitivity in society before, sadly, losing their lives to it.
This is apparent in her piece, Say Her Name, where Packer immortalizes Sandra Bland, a Black woman who tragically died in police custody after being arrested for a minor traffic accident. The piece showcases a semi-abstract bouquet of wildflowers. Some blooms can be seen visibly decaying, symbolizing the fragility and impermanence of Black women’s lives in today's society. The painting's dominant black background is a reflection of Packer's grief for a woman she never met, yet deeply empathized with. This helps her to highlight the strange sense of loss she felt when confronted with the death of someone who’s both a stranger and yet can be considered a sister due to their shared proximity as Black women who are around the same age.
Similarly, in her piece, Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Breonna! Breonna!), Packer pays homage to Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was murdered by police officers in her own home while they were investigating a drug dealing operation which did not involve her. The painting Packer dedicates to Taylor’s story depicts a man sleeping on a couch amidst everyday objects. His environment is dominated by a garish and intrusive yellow, which helps convey the emotional turmoil that she imagined had plagued those closest to Taylor after losing her in such a tragic, violent and unjust way. Packer's unconstrained brushstrokes drip abstractly on a staircase leading to the skies outside, referencing the insatiable desire for knowledge, justice and truth in Taylor’s case.
Through her art, Packer challenges conventional notions of representation. She blends figuration and abstraction to evoke visceral responses from viewers, portraying her subjects indirectly or through other people who can be associated with them. Her paintings are not mere reflections of reality but invitations to engage with the complexities of Black life, memory and trauma. By portraying Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor, Packer confronts systemic injustices and advocates for gender equality, amplifying the voices of those whose stories are often silenced.