Gabeaux

It’s Ta**us season! Here’s “Ta**us” from the Zodiac collection. If you have a lovely Ta**us in your life who may resonate with this mellow bull, you can always pick up a print from the web store 💚 In the meantime, enjoy this Taurean appropriate photo dump.

**us

In 1915, a mob calling themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan kidnapped Atlanta citizen Leo Frank from prison, transported him from Milledgeville to Marietta, and lynched him. Frank was convicted for the r**e and murder of thirteen year old Marietta native Mary Phagan two years earlier in a highly publicized trial. Most historians and researchers agree he was wrongfully accused, his conviction and sentencing inspired by anti-semitism by the local populace, media and government. Initially sentenced to death and his many appeals denied, Georgia Gov. Slaton commuted his sentence to life in prison, insighting public outrage. “The Knights of Mary Pagan” consisted of twenty eight men, including members of law enforcement, Joseph Mackey Brown, former governor of Georgia; Eugene Herbert Clay, former mayor of Marietta and later president of the Georgia Senate; E. P. Dobbs, mayor of Marietta at the time; Moultrie McKinney Sessions, lawyer and banker; part of the Marietta delegation at Governor Slaton’s clemency hearing. Many of these men would reconvene weeks later atop Stone Mountain, participating in the revival of the Ku Klux Klan.

The vast majority of lynching victims, 72%, in the Southern United States have been African Americans, often wrongfully accused of criminal acts, the perpetrators of their murders being mobs of white men seeking “vigilante justice.” Leo Frank reminds us that none of us are immune to the oppression and hatred of any members of our communities. Despite societally contextual differences, the racial hatred and imbalances of power that inspired the murders of many African Americans is within the same realm that led to the murder of Leo Frank.

As a person of Jewish decent, proud member of a racially mixed family, and an Atlanta native, I painted this portrait remembering how tightly interconnected our histories are. In the light of increasingly fascistic and genocidal national and international governance, it is our local communities and lessons from our history that, I hope, will save us.

All proceeds from the sale of this painting will be donated to the Equal Justice Initiative.

Keith Porter Jr was the first US citizen to be shot and killed by ICE. There were only a few witnesses to his death from indirect angles, no video, according to them and to his family, he was killed in a moment of celebration. New Years Eve 2025, in the Northridge neighborhood of LA, Porter and several other neighbors were firing guns in celebration to ring in the new year. His neighbor, ICE agent Brian Palacios, was off duty and responded to the gun fire of his accord, service weapon in hand. According to witnesses who heard the event, Palacios confronted Porter without identifying himself as law enforcement, and based on shell casings found at the scene shot Porter with his service weapon with no other exchange of gun fire. Porter was found dead on the spot at 10:40pm after LAPD responded to 911 calls related to the incident. He was killed by his own neighbor for actions that would at best warrant a citation. Palacios has not been arrested for killing Porter and I have so far not been able to find any reports of professional or social consequences besides being named as Porter’s killer.

Keith was a father of two daughters, a devoted son and active within his community. He loved fishing, worked at Home Depot and was described as a Jack of All Trades, the life of the party, a beloved character. In my own research about his life, I found many photos of him with family and friends, holding a red snapper he just caught fishing on the coast, and even a screen capture of him being interviewed by his friend who was a film maker about bend a father. His family is currently seeking justice for his death, including collecting 100,000 signatures in a petition to have Palacios arrested for killing Porter.

Where have you lived since you were 18? Although he was undocumented, Silverio was a resident of Chicago for at least twenty years, the city he may have called home for the longest period of time in his life. He was the first person I was aware of that had bee shot and killed by a federal ICE agent for fleeing a traffic stop.

Cahier journals are finally available on my website! These little journals are made entirely by hand from my lightly damaged and misregistered screen prints that I’ve held on to over the years. The interior pages are 100% recycled 70lb text weight paper in black or blush. Saddle stitched with waxed cord, some of them have colored cord that compliments the cover design. Each one is truly unique!