Today, Vanity Fair released the cover art for their September 2020 issue. It’s a painting of Breonna Taylor from artist Amy Sherald, who famously painted Michelle Obama for the National Portrait Gallery in 2018.
The cover alone, with Taylor standing akimbo in a flowing dress, the color of the sea, is striking and remarkable. But it’s Sherald’s description of the details she added to the work that make it truly heartwarming.
She told Vanity Fair, Breonna Taylor is an “American girl, she is a sister, a daughter, and a hard worker. Those are the kinds of people that I am drawn towards.”
Sherald, who is immunosuppressed, has been unable to participate in the racial injustice protests erupting all over the country.
But she says this work is her way of showing up in the “moment and to activism—producing this image keeps Breonna alive forever.”
In order to paint Taylor, 26, who she had never met and would never be able to meet, was difficult as an artist trying to replicate her physicality.
To address the challenge, Sherald found a woman with a similar body type. She studied Taylor’s hair and fashion choices. And she drew inspiration from the fact that Taylor was a frontline working during this ongoing global pandemic and that her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was about to propose to her.
“She sees you seeing her. The hand on the hip is not passive, her gaze is not passive. She looks strong! I wanted this image to stand as a piece of inspiration to keep fighting for justice for her. When I look at the dress, it kind of reminds me of Lady Justice.”
Jasmine Elder, of JIBRI, an Atlanta fashion designer, created the crepe dress used as inspiration for the cover.
Sherald said, “When thinking about what she was going to wear, I wanted Breonna to like it. I wanted her family to look and say, I can see my daughter and sister in this.”
Then Sherald asked herself, What would I want if I were 26?
So she added a slit to the dress.
Sherald initially struggled with what color to make the gown.
“…painting someone posthumously, I wanted it to feel ethereal but grounded at the same time.”
Sherald tried yellows, reds, and pinks. But none of them felt right. Eventually, she just asked.
“Breonna, what color do you want this dress to be? Please, tell me what color you want this dress to me.”
Eventually, she settled on blue.
Vanity Fair notes that the color mimics the color of Taylor’s March birthstone aquamarine.
Sherald said, “The color that I chose almost had a resplendence to it. The monochromatic color allows you to really focus on her face. The whole painting really becomes about her.”
In addition to the work Sherald put into deciding on a color for her dress, Sherald also added sweet touches to the painting like the gold cross on a chain necklace, and the engagement ring Breonna will never get the chance to wear.
It was Sherald’s way of acknowledging the gravity of the fact that her life was taken from her.
“I made this portrait for her family,” says Sherald. “I mean, of course I made it for Vanity Fair, but the whole time I was thinking about her family.”
