Louisville Celebrates The Life of Breonna Taylor With New Museum Exhibit

A new exhibit at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum aims to memorialize the late Breonna Taylor while also celebrating her life through the eyes of the people who knew her best.

Guest curator Allison Glenn had conversations with Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, ahead of putting together the temporary installation, BET reports. Through a team effort that included Taylor’s family members, local activists, artists, and more, Glenn developed the exhibit to commemorate Taylor’s memory and the city she came from.

“First, I spoke with Breonna’s mother, and asked how we might think of her daughter’s legacy, and translated that into the three ideas: promise, witness, remembrance. Then I convened a national panel,” Glenn told the NY Times.

Glenn selected members of the National Advisory Panel to assist her in creating the installation as well as mental health professionals, and researchers. The artist decided to use Taylor’s Vanity Fair cover as the exhibit’s centerpiece, W Magazine reports. The portrait, designed by Amy Sherald, showed the 26-year-old EMT worker dressed in turquoise and wearing the engagement ring she never got the chance to receive from her boyfriend Kenneth Walker.

“A lot of people feel that museums aren’t accessible, aren’t reflective of who they are,” Glenn said. “This exhibition is about a woman who lived in Louisville, whose family lived in Louisville; it’s about what happened to her, and in response to these things. There will be people who may come to the museum for the first time.”

Taylor and Walker were home laying in bed when plainclothes police officers executed a search warrant and forced their way into the apartment, BBC reports. Authorities claimed an officer was struck in the leg by a bullet from Walker’s gun. Three officers returned fire and discharged 32 rounds, FBI ballistics report said. Taylor was caught in the crossfire and died on her hallway floor.

Glenn’s exhibit honoring Taylor has been named “Promise, Witness, Remembrance.” It opened at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum on April 7 and will be on display through June 6.