‘Souls Shot’ project uses art to capture victims of gun violence in order to raise awareness

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Using the power of art to bring about awareness, change and an end to gun violence is the mission of the Souls Shot Portrait Project , which launches its eighth exhibit in Philadelphia in November.

The Souls Shot project seeks to capture the essence of a family member or friend cut down by gun violence . Area artists meet or talk with the families before they get started.

“They are randomly paired with family and friends who contact us, and the artists contact the loved one, and they talk about who the person was in life, in order for the artist to best represent who the person was,” explained Laura Madeleine, the project’s founder and executive director. “And it's a celebration. We don't focus on the death.”

Board member Maxayn Gooden of Philadelphia lost her 18-year-old son, Jah'Sun Ahmad Patton, to gun violence in 2017. Artist Caroline Stoughton captured his essence in a piece called, “Jah'Sun — Truly a Ray of Sun to Everyone.”

“When we talked, she told me, ‘As I was painting the picture … I just felt all of this light.’ So that's how that picture became so bright, and that's truly, truly who he was,” said Gooden.

“I just started crying and smiling at the same time, and I don't think it wasn't tears of sadness. [They were] really tears of joy. It really was like he was smiling — he's like, ‘Hey, mom!’”

In a time when attention spans are short and the news cycle moves quickly, these portraits are designed to give pause, reflect on the lives lost, and celebrate the time they were here. Madeleine says the exhibits move people in a way that only art can, especially as people have become used to hearing about gun deaths.

“We’ve all become numb to it, which sounds cliché, but it's true,” she said. “These portraits are a way for people that don't know what it's like to connect in a different way.”

The next exhibition in Philly runs Nov. 1-24 at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill.

The second exhibition of portraits presented by Souls Shot Portrait Project’s New Jersey Chapter concluded its run after its last stop at the Hetty Reckless Community Center in Salem, New Jersey. The third exhibition is in the planning stages and needs artists .