Shirien Damra (born c. 1987) is an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

, artist, and activist. She is known for her illustrations in support of

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

movements including the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

(BLM) movement, and support of the

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, Indigenous rights, and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Her work has had power through viral sharing (via social media), and has been noted as a newer form of activism.

Early life and education

Shirien Damra was born in 1987 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, to

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

parents that are

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...

. She knew about injustice and racism from her childhood. Damra attended

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

, where she received a bachelor's degree and master's degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

. In 2015, she was diagnosed with cancer and she had to take a break from her advocacy work. In 2019, she started posting images on

instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Career

Damra's

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...

portrait (2020) was a tribute and was created using soft colors and featured his bust with eyes closed, and ringed in a wreath of flowers. Her portrait of Floyd went viral after she had posted it on

, and resulted in more than 3.4 million "likes". The Floyd portrait image was projected on the front of Grace Cathedral (2020) in San Francisco; and painted as a mural in Raleigh, North Carolina. Other tribute portraits by Damra made in solidarity with BLM have included

Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor (June 5, 1993 – March 13, 2020) was an African-American woman who Killing of Breonna Taylor, was shot and killed while unarmed in her Louisville, Kentucky home by three police officers who entered under the auspices of a No-kn ...

, and

Ahmaud Arbery On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.

. All of the Damra portraits have their eyes closed, this is a reference to inward reflection and a style found in Eastern art. Damra was commissioned by the Georgia's

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

chapter for her Ahmaud Arbery portrait. Additionally there is a community of other artists that created BLM-related social media-based viral work in 2020, including Nikkolas Smith, Stormy Nesbit, Dani Coke, Robin Hilkey, and Miriam Mosqueda. In 2021, design consultancy ''Matter Unlimited'' and Damra designed a Washington, D.C. 4th Ward community mural in celebration of "Immigrant Day of Resilience". Her work is included in the traveling art exhibition, "Ye Shall Inherit the Earth and Faces of the Divine”.

Criticism

Damra's work has been criticized and dismissed for being performative and overly focused on aesthetics. Some claim

social media platforms Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongst virtual communities and networks. Common features include: * Online ...

such as instagram has changed how people address activism, and has created a lack of consistency in protest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damara, Shirien 1987 births Living people DePaul University alumni American people of Palestinian descent American illustrators American designers Muslims from Illinois American social justice activists Artists from Chicago