Feature
A traveling photographer has decided to stay in Minneapolis to care for the hundreds of artworks, objects, and messages left in memory of the poet and mother.
Photojournalist Ryan Vizzions from Atlanta was in Minnesota when federal immigration agents killed poet and mother Renee Nicole Macklin Good.
For the past five years, Vizzions has been traveling in his compact van across the country for a photography project exploring American identity in every state. While capturing images at Lake Superior, he learned of Good’s death and immediately drove to the scene where she was shot. He arrived in time for a large vigil held in her honor.
Two months after Good’s death, Vizzions remains in Minnesota, shifting from observer to active participant. He has become the unofficial archivist of the memorial site for Good, where hundreds of items, notes, and artworks have been placed by mourners in protest and grief.
“I want to make sure people in the future understand what happened here,” Vizzions told Hyperallergic in an interview.
Vizzions has so far photographed around 200 items and moved delicate objects to a “secret location” in the city’s southern area. He left some items, like plastic signs, at the site for public viewing. Alongside the community, he maintains the location, including removing decayed flowers.
Among the documented items is a note from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee, part of the agency enforcing stricter immigration policies. The message reads, “Ms. Good, we will never forget you. Rest in peace and power. Your work on earth is done. Your legacy lives on,” and is signed, “A DHS employee.”
“That was probably the most surprising because that’s somebody who is involved with the same institution that ultimately killed her,” Vizzions told Hyperallergic.
Vizzions transitioned from being an observer to an active participant in the response to Good’s murder after an attempt was made to burn the memorial site, and harsh winter conditions threatened its preservation. On February 18, someone set the site on fire with gasoline. Vizzions and community members watching the site at night managed to control the flames.
Though Vizzions has photographed significant political events such as the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, he had never engaged with the communities he documented. “As a photojournalist, oftentimes you’re divided from the community because you’re on the outside looking in,” Vizzions said. “And I wanted to serve.”
Vizzions informed Hyperallergic that Good’s parents are aware of his project, and he is in touch with a family friend acting as a mediator. He plans to honor the family’s wishes regarding the future of the collection. Some items might be transferred to private collections or the Smithsonian archives, but the final decision lies with the family.
Meanwhile, he continues to photograph and digitize items from Good’s vigil so that people everywhere can access them. “It’s really important for me to make sure that the folks who couldn’t be here, and the family who couldn’t come to the vigil because of everything happening, are able to access the memorial in person or online,” Vizzions said.
Vizzions recalled a snow-covered note that deeply moved him. It read: “We all carry whistles now. I hope you hear them. I hope you’re home. We all carry each other now. I know you’re with us. I know you’re home.”
This message references the use of whistles by activists to alert communities of potential immigration raids. “It was just on a small note that was tucked somewhere,” Vizzions said. “But that’s just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of items that people have left. It’s that message and the other message that really make it feel like we have an obligation to protect these offerings that people brought to her.”
