The Mirror Casket

The Mirror Casket is a visual structure, performance, and call to action for justice in the aftermath of the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Created by a team of seven community artists and organizers--myself, De Nichols, Elizabeth Vega, Derek Laney, Mallory Nezam, Marcis Curtis, and sophie lipman--The Mirror Casket responds to a Ferguson resident’s call for “a work of art that evokes more empathy into this circumstance” following the burning of a Michael Brown memorial on September 23, 2014.

With an aim to evoke reflection and empathy for the deaths of young people of color who have lost their lives unjustly in the United States and worldwide, The Mirror Casket was performed as part of a “Funeral Procession of Justice” during the Ferguson October protests. As community members carried it from the site of Michael Brown’s death to the police department of the community, its mirrors challenged viewers to look within and see their reflections as both whole and shattered, as both solution and problem, as both victim and aggressor. The Mirror Casket has since been used throughout related protests and marches and was collected into the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in March 2016. Learn more at mirrorcasket.com.