MY NECK HURTS (DALLAS) 2020

Here we see Jammie Holmes’s 'My Neck Hurts (Dallas)', an aerial performance piece where banners with his phrase were flown over the cities of Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. The artist staged these public sky-writings following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. He used the sky as a canvas to amplify a visceral and urgent message in the face of racial injustice. His choice to fly banners, a form associated with advertising, draws attention to the commodification and spectacle often surrounding black pain in media. The phrase "My neck hurts" references Eric Garner's last words, a stark reminder of police brutality. By placing these words above urban centers, Holmes forces a confrontation with the collective burden and emotional exhaustion of witnessing continued violence against black bodies. The artist's interventions become collective experiences of mourning. The artist is calling on us to look up, acknowledge, and reflect on the pain that is ever present.