Breonna Taylor on the Cover of Vanity Fair’s September Issue
For the month of September, Vanity Fair has chosen a portrait of Breonna Taylor as their issue’s cover.
Amy Sherald and Ta-Nehisi Coates came together with Vanity Fair to show the life and death of Breonna Taylor through the eyes of her mother, Tamika Palmer, in the article “A Beautiful Life.”
Presenting Breonna Taylor for Vanity Fair’s September issue, “The Great Fire,” guest-edited by Ta-Nehisi Coates. https://t.co/Gf9115GkGb pic.twitter.com/0TdNBeIOve
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 24, 2020
Sherald is known as the artistic genius behind Michelle Obama’s 2018 portrait, First Lady Michelle Obama. Venturing on with portraying Taylor for the cover of Vanity Fair, Sherald did not hold back. She immortalized Taylor with a striking teal-colored dress and background, making her beautiful skin the main focus.
Coates is an author and journalist, and he brings the retelling of Palmer together in the best way. Covering Palmer and Taylor’s early life and the events that occurred during and after the tragic act of brutality.
Throughout the article, Palmer tells the story of how Taylor was a daughter, sister, nurse, and overall an extraordinary woman who deserved nothing but justice. Taylor was “the family glue,” Palmer says, as she remembers her daughter.
Palmer also opened up about police not wanting to discuss the truth behind what had occurred inside Taylor’s apartment. She searched and asked for hours between the hospital and residence, waiting for someone to tell her where her daughter was. News outlets called it “a drug raid gone bad,” but she knew her daughter, and now people would only know her by this depiction.
“Breonna was everybody’s sister and daughter. As easily as this happened to Breonna, it could’ve been anybody else’s child”.
Thank you @TaNehisiCoats, Amy Sherald and @VanityFair. pic.twitter.com/RWIjBUf7SL— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) August 24, 2020
Months after Taylor’s death, Palmer takes to Facebook to share her daughter’s story. She felt relieved when she started witnessing people standing with her and her family. Protests she was unaware of began to assemble, and Palmer felt like somebody had finally heard her.
Breonna Taylor was a woman of color who deserved to be protected and ensured the right to live. Palmer, Sherald, Coates, and Vanity Fair are to remind us the fight for justice is not yet over.
