Portraits of pain, Brickell exhibit hopes to raise awareness of devastating impact of gun violence
MIAMI - A powerful special exhibit has gone on display in Brickell to raise awareness of the devastating effect of gun violence and the need for action in communities.
The "SHOT: We the Mothers Miami" exhibition, featuring mothers who lost children in shootings, consists of large-scale vinyl prints hung on the iron fence surrounding Southside Park, at 140 SW 11th Street, featuring portraits, objects, and words connected to those who died.
Photographer Kathy Shorr captured the faces of women who had to endure the unthinkable, the devastating loss of a child.
"When somebody gets shot, they don't just die. That's the end of them but the beginning of pain of the people who are standing here," she said at an unveiling of the prints on Monday.
That pain is felt through these images.
"My son couldn't get out the way fast enough and the bullet struck him in the heart and my son died in my arms," said one of the mothers featured in the exhibit.
Rather than sit back and grieve, the mothers are turning their pain into purpose.
"We need to make a change immediately because if not it could be one of your children," said one of the mothers.
The exhibition, which was first unveiled in Philadelphia, is traveling nationwide. The Shot Project now has portraits scattered across 45 cities.