Vanity Fair Puts Breonna Taylor Portrait By Amy Sherald On Cover Of Ta-Nehisi Coates Edited September Issue

Source: Amy Sherald / Vanity Fair

We knew when Vanity Fair announced that Ta-Nehisi Coates would be guest editing the September issue that he would do incredible things, but we never imagined he would do this.

This morning Vanity Fair revealed their September cover, a striking Amy Sherald rendering of Breonna Taylor. Sherald is known for her work documenting contemporary Black experience through paintings. Her only other commissioned work is her 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama for the National Portrait Gallery. Sherald calls her cover a contribution to the “moment and to activism.” Some details you should pay attention to when observing Sherald’s portrait of Taylor are her gold cross chain necklace and the engagement ring that Taylor’s boyfriend bought her, which she never had a chance to wear.

Coates, who penned the cover story, took to Instagram to reveal the cover and discuss the theme he selected for the issue, “The Great Fire.”

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“Burning all illusion tonight…” Link in bio. Posted @withregram • @vanityfair Presenting Breonna Taylor for Vanity Fair’s September issue, “The Great Fire.” Five months have passed since police killed Breonna Taylor in her own home, a violent crime that our September issue guest editor Ta-Nehisi Coates ascribes to a belief in Black people as a disaster, as calamity. “I don’t know how else to comprehend the jackboots bashing in Breonna Taylor’s door and spraying her home with bullets, except the belief that they were fighting some Great Fire—demonic, unnatural, inhuman.” Coates chose the “The Great Fire” as the theme for the issue, which assembles activists, artists, and writers to offer a portrait of hope in a world where the possibility of a legitimate anti-racist majority is emerging for the first time in American history. “Something is happening,” writes @tanehisipcoates, “and I think to understand it, we must better understand the nature of this Great Fire.” For his cover story, Coates tells Breonna’s story through the words of her mother. Also in the issue: an oral history of the historic days after George Floyd’s death; a portfolio of creatives and visionaries who capture the spirit—and urgency—of the moment; director @ava DuVernay’s conversation with revolutionary Angela Davis; and much more. Read “The Great Fire” at the link in bio now. Painting by Amy Sherald (@asherald).

A post shared by Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisipcoates) on Aug 24, 2020 at 4:23am PDT

Presenting Breonna Taylor for Vanity Fair’s September issue, “The Great Fire.”

Five months have passed since police killed Breonna Taylor in her own home, a violent crime that our September issue guest editor Ta-Nehisi Coates ascribes to a belief in Black people as a disaster, as calamity. “I don’t know how else to comprehend the jackboots bashing in Breonna Taylor’s door and spraying her home with bullets, except the belief that they were fighting some Great Fire—demonic, unnatural, inhuman.”

Coates chose the “The Great Fire” as the theme for the issue, which assembles activists, artists, and writers to offer a portrait of hope in a world where the possibility of a legitimate anti-racist majority is emerging for the first time in American history. “Something is happening,” writes @tanehisipcoates, “and I think to understand it, we must better understand the nature of this Great Fire.”

For his cover story, Coates tells Breonna’s story through the words of her mother. Also in the issue: an oral history of the historic days after George Floyd’s death; a portfolio of creatives and visionaries who capture the spirit—and urgency—of the moment; director @ava DuVernay’s conversation with revolutionary Angela Davis; and much more.

History is being made. Our voices are being heard. Our stories are being told. We are so grateful to Coates for this work of art which will continue to help motivate us all as we fight for justice for Breonna Taylor and her family and so many other families like hers, whose loved ones have had their lives stolen by white supremacy.

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“And I am telling you it kills my whole family. Breonna is like the family glue—even at 26 years old, she is pretty much the glue. And she is bossy. She don’t care what is happening, she is going to make sure we get together and have a game night or have a cookout or have something, because we all tend to get so busy and consumed with work and whatever. But she has a personal relationship with everybody, even all my little cousins. They don’t call each other cousins. They all call each other sisters and brothers. All the kids, the younger kids, or even the kids her age, looked up to Breonna. And my dad stops turning on the television. Breonna was his first granddaughter. To see what happened, to hear what happened, it breaks his heart and he can’t stand it. And Juniyah is depressed. She is just going through the motions. Because she’s used to seeing Breonna every day, and arguing with Breonna every other day.” ➖Tamika Palmer. The incredible Latoya Ruby Frazier with the gorgeous photos. From #thegreatfire @vanityfair Link in bio.

A post shared by Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisipcoates) on Aug 24, 2020 at 5:10am PDT

Read “A Beautiful Life” by Ta-Nehisi Coates in Vanity Fair’s September issue and on VanityFair.com.

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