Street artist Pegasus is showing solidarity with anti-racism protesters with his latest piece.
He depicted the late legendary singer Nina Simone on a wall in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London on Thursday, next to an existing piece by the artist Squarms. Underneath Pegasus’ image of Simone, he printed one of her most iconic quotes: “I’ll tell you what freedom means to me: no fear.”
Pegasus, who grew up in Chicago, said the racial justice demonstrations that have taken place worldwide over the past couple of weeks had “really hit home” for him as “an American Latin man with black cousins.”
“I am far too familiar with the injustice the African American community face on a daily basis,” Pegasus, whose real name is Chris Turner, wrote in an email to HuffPost. “We take 5 steps forward in the fight for equality across all minority groups and at the same time are forced 10 steps backwards. I stand with our black community for freedom without fear.”
In the documentary “Nina: An Historical Perspective,” Simone uses the quote to explain what it means to be free.
“I’ve had a couple times on stage when I really felt free and that’s something else. That’s really something else,” Simone says in the film. “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. I mean really, no fear. If I could have that half of my life — no fear. Lots of children have no fear. That’s the only way I can describe it. That’s not all of it, but it’s something to really, really feel. Like a new way of seeing. Like a new way of seeing something.”
Check out the clip here: