Painting of Tamir Rice shooting withdrawn from art festival
PITTSBURGH — The artist of a painting depicting the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice has withdrawn the piece from a Pittsburgh arts festival after an outcry that the white artist was exploiting black pain.
Tom Megalis’ painting “Within 2 Seconds, the Shooting of Tamir Rice” was among 54 works accepted into this year’s Three Rivers Arts Festival, according to the Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2rYaza8).
Before he delivered the work to the June 2-11 festival, Megalis posted an image of it on Facebook. That’s when the intense reactions started pouring in.
Megalis, a Cleveland resident and a Carnegie Mellon University graduate, said he was shocked by the response. He said his intention was to document his outrage about the police killing of the 12-year-old black Ohio boy.