Visionaries act ahead of their time and one such visionary was Jean Michel Basquiat (more commonly referred to as Basquiat in the art community). Although, the famous artist died when he was 27 years old from a drug overdose, he left a legacy behind.

From his spray-painted crowns to scribbled words all over New York city, Jean-Michel Basquiat is largely credited for raising awareness about issues like racial inequality through his paintings. One such work that was deeply personal to him and garnered great traction over the discrimination faced by the African-American community was Defacement (shown below).

“Defacement: (The Death of Michael Stewart)” painted by Basquiat- in 1983 as a tribute to a young, black artist who died from police brutality that year.

Michael Stewart- the 25 year old graffiti artist from Brooklyn was beaten violently by the NY police, put into a chokehold and handcuffed while comatose- all for writing graffiti inside a subway station in the East Village area in New York City. He died from sustained injuries 13 days later at Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan while all three white police officers involved were acquitted.

A thematic work by Basquiat , Defacement not only commemorates the fate of Stewart but it was also an exploration of the artist’s own black origins and how he found his way in a largely white and often antagonistic art world.

Given the #Blacklivesmatter movement following the death of George Floyd, Basquiat’s work against state authority has never been more relevant. Police Brutality is an issue that has been persisting since the 80s for a grieving community that never got justice. It persists till today and is more pressing now than ever before.