Jewelry line made from BLM protest debris pulled after outrage

A museum in Charleston, South Carolina, has pulled a jewelry line featuring items made from debris from Black Lives Matter protests and named after black victims of police brutality after a backlash from customers and activists. 

The Gibbes Museum of Art announced that it cancelled plans to sell the ‘Wear Their Names’ collection after swift backlash from local activists and social media.

The collection featured necklaces, earrings, bolo ties and rings made with pieces of shattered window glass collected during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in May.     

‘Justice is not jewelry. Especially not jewelry named after Black bodies. Its heinous,’ said local activist Tamika Gadsen.

Each piece of jewelry was specifically named after a black American who died at the hands of law enforcement, and prices ranged from less than $50 to nearly $500.

A necklace named ‘The Breonna’ for Breonna Taylor was priced at $240; a similar piece called ‘The Elijah’ after Elijah McClain cost $480; and ‘The Trayvon’ in reference to Trayvon Martin was listed for $45.

A necklace named for Tanisha Pughsley was discounted from $190 to $155, while an earring referencing Tamir Rice was sold out.

The Charleston couple behind the controversial collection, Paul Chelmis and Jin Wen, explained their rationale to Charleston Scene last week. 

The pair was inspired after watching a Facebook Live stream of a peaceful demonstration in Charleston on May 30. Later that night, some residents would damage local property during clashes with law enforcement. 

‘I kind of saw it as a natural reaction,’ Chelmis told the publication. ‘Like yeah, of course this is the result of our inattention. 

‘Instead of focusing on how terrible these people are who are “rioting,” we should focus on what we should do to prevent it from happening in the future.’

After talking, the couple decided to ‘make something beautiful out of the rubble’ and collected the shards of glass from outside damaged storefronts and buildings. 

The products were featured on Shan Shui, the couple’s online store, and would be sold in the Gibbes Museum of Art gift shop. 

Proceeds would be donated to ‘From Privilege to Progress,’ a nonprofit organization seeking to ‘desegregate’ discussions about racism.

But the plan was quickly scrapped when activists and others lambasted the collection, with some comparing the sale of the jewelry to a ‘slave auction.’

On Twitter, and 18-year-old activist named Sophie Ming decried the pieces for being monetized and for the proceeds not being directed to the victims’ families.

‘It’s as if the name attached to the product determines the monetary value of each life. That’s what I’m getting, it’s disturbing,’ she wrote. 

Tamika Gadsen, founder of the Charleston Activist Network, shared that sentiment and blasted the collection online after reading an article about it in the Post and Courier.

‘I stumbled across this story in my Twitter feed, and it’s not hyperbole when I say I’ve never responded so quickly to something so egregiously ill-conceived in Charleston. I’ve never reacted that fast,’ she told Yahoo Life. 

‘I pushed myself to finish the article in record time to make sure I got all of the details, to see if this was a joke — maybe there’s more to the story.’

Gadsen described the collection under Shan Shui as a type of performative activism that, outwardly, had the appearance of supporting the black community but actually profited off the pain.

What struck her as particularly offensive was the bolo tie named after Eric Garner, a 43-year-old New York father who died after a police officer placed him in a chokehold.

Garner was seen on video pleading ‘I can’t breathe,’ which was echoed by George Floyd six years later and became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter.

After Garner’s death, New York banned the use of chokeholds by officers.

‘When you name a bolo tie after Eric Garner, the gruesomeness just leapt from the page. It’s so Charleston to mischaracterize that gruesome exercise as charity,’ said Gadsen.

‘They made something gruesome look beautiful.’ 

People on social media spoke out as well to call the collection ‘tasteless’ and disappointing.

‘There is an appropriate and inappropriate way to depict tragedies through art. Here is an example of a completely inappropriate, tone deaf, and tasteless way to do it…’ one Twitter user wrote.

‘Naming pieces after them and selling them for different prices give me slave auction vibes,’ another said.

One person called it ‘disgusting’ and said ‘do not commodify the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality and murder.’

‘Calling it ‘art’ is no excuse. Regardless of where the money goes, you’re commodifying the suffering of these families. There’s a difference between support and exploitation.’

In response to Sophie Ming’s original post, one user said: ‘What the actual hell is this? I swear people will always find a way to capitalize black people’s pain.

‘And I’m sure none of that money will go to the family members of any of those people their jewelry is named after.’

In response to the outcry, Chelmis and Wen apologized with a now-deleted message on their social media.

‘While out intentions were pute and we consulted a wide variety of people before launching, it is clear that there are issues with the approach that we took,’ the statement read.

‘Though we only wanted to honor the victim’s names and retell their story, we see now that using those names was inappropriate and in poor taste.’

As of Friday, Shan Shui’s website and social media accounts have been removed.

While the couple’s approach has been criticized, Gadsen hoped that people would look beyond this one instance and educate themselves on the larger context.

‘White people feel entitled to tell us what we should do with our pain and how we should memorialize it,’ said Gadsen.

‘This is the time for white and non-Black POC folk to listen to Black people, not to take up space — and that’s what they did.’