Isaiah Lopaz (pictured) has turned the racist comments he experienced over his nine years living in Berlin into a confrontational photo series with accompanying essays

Oct. 4, 2016 – Late last month, American artist Isaiah Lopaz began an online series of portraits titled Things you can tell just by looking at him. Some Berliners already know his work as Lavender Wolf, colorful cut-out superheroes designed for the Berries party and for Black Lives Matter events in the city. In this new project, photos of Lopaz show him wearing different T-shirts he printed himself, each bearing a different phrase, like "You’re with us? I thought you were a dealer!" – mostly made by White Germans and other White Europeans, and often made in gay or queer spaces. Each picture is accompanied by his reflections on power and oppression.

The images depict Lopaz with a blank expression and a different shirt quoting real comments, whether verbal attacks or microaggressions. He tells SIEGESSÄULE about the format: "There are parallels between wearing apparel that is branded and racial oppression being projected onto the body." Another shirt reads, "Even though you’re black, you’re really beautiful." He was stunned when the original incident took place in a bar. "I mentioned it to another friend, a person of color, who thought it was just meant as a joke. But everything has context," he explains. "There are images and literature spanning centuries that describe 'black features' as undesirable and monstrous. This is why the 'joke' works."

Lopaz developed these 20 images “for people who have had similar experiences and for people who want to understand how language can dehumanize others,“ he says. "It's important that POC involve themselves in narratives about race. I’m adding to a large community of people writing from their own lived experiences."

Joey Hansom

himnoir.com