Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Breonna! Breonna!)

Jennifer Packer: I was looking at photographs of Breonna Taylor’s home that were documented like the gunshots, the measurements.

Narrator: Jennifer Packer.

Jennifer Packer: And as I was scrolling through these images, I saw things that I recognized, things that I would have seen in my own apartment. I could almost conflate a time in my life materially to what I was seeing in hers. I felt this sense of connection.

I’m not interested in the hierarchy that portraiture suggests. I’m interested in the codependency of humans, existing in spaces, along with other really important information, or materials that humans subject to wear and tear. So it’s like I’m interested in environment as much as the figures that sit within it.

I think a feeling of power in the medium fluctuates. When I’m making images, I can force myself to see things I don’t want to see or don’t feel like I can deal with. I can create confrontation that is psychological and intensely personal, even as I think about these larger social or structural issues.

Narrator: This audio is courtesy of Serpentine Gallery, London.