With every major news story of the year—from protests for racial justice; the pandemic; the presidential election and more—Coloradans across the state used art to express their emotions.
Art can often be used as an escape. But with the challenges presented by 2020, art was often used as a megaphone.
Rocky Mountain PBS worked to help amplify these messages as part of our Colorado Voices series. Below we have compiled a retrospective on how Coloradans navigated the rough waters of 2020 by creating art.
Racial Justice
The killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 was the beginning of a nationwide movement against police brutality and the unfair treatment of Black people in America.
In Colorado, there were protests across the state, including Denver.
After the protests in late May, several buildings were damaged in downtown Denver. The windows of the City and County Building, for example, were shattered. But instead of covering the windows with plywood and leaving it at that, the city partnered with students at Noel Community Arts School, who painted the boards with messages of hope and change to create something beautiful.
The students took the project as an opportunity to show adults that they are just as aware of the city and country’s problems—racism, police brutality, climate change—as the adults are, if not more so.