'A love story': Memories of Breonna Taylor come to life at Louisville exhibit

Ju'Niyah Palmer sat on a dark leather couch tucked into the corner of Whisky Dry restaurant in downtown Louisville, sporting an understated black T-shirt, worn blue jeans and a disarming smile, remembering her sister.

Hanging on the wall in front of her, there she was: Breonna Taylor. Graduation photos and filtered selfies mingled with bright paintings, all encircling a large mural in the center of the wall depicting the life of Taylor, Palmer's best friend.

Palmer was attending the Breewayy Brunch and Day Party, an event held in conjunction with the arrival of the Breonna's Garden XR Exhibition in Louisville after a nationwide tour.

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Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville police in 2020 during a botched raid on her apartment. Sunday would have been her 29th birthday, and her family was on hand at the exhibition to mark the occasion.

The free exhibition was created by Web3 artist Lady Phøenix along with Palmer, providing a space in which Palmer's memories of her sister can exist, away from the narratives portrayed in the media. It is a reverent, flower-strewn, virtual reality memorial that will be on display for the next three months at the Roots 101 African American Museum, 124 N. First St. which is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

"This is something we would have done together, you know, we would have had brunch," Palmer said of Sunday's event. "I'm just excited for the community to finally see Breonna as she is."

The brunch was a packed but mellow affair, with Breonna's mother Tamika Palmer and boyfriend Kenneth Walker among the attendees. When the food was ready, Ju'Niyah and Tamika Palmer were sitting at one of the orange picnic tables outside the restaurant. Just being together reminded them of Taylor.

Because both said more than anyone else, Taylor was the person who made sure the people she loved spent time with one another.

"This morning, I woke up heartbroken," Tamika Palmer said, interrupting herself to comment on how gorgeous the mural is. "But this is definitely a community-building event. It took the community coming together to start to fight for justice for Breonna. And we will refuse to let this go."

The entrance to Breonna's Garden was adorned with columns of flowers next to a glass door, and after stepping through them there is a curtain of dangling pink flower petals. Spread on the floor are purple and red yoga mats, and guests needing a mental break could lie on them, eyes closed, as the woman at the front of the room calls out "May you be safe. May you be healthy" in a soothing drone.

In the corner of the room was a plastic folding table with two VR, or virtual reality, headsets on top. It's where people can virtually enter Breonna Taylor's world.

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The virtual reality experience of Breonna's Garden begins in a clearing surrounded by tulips, where the participant will have a conversation with a young woman who directs visitors to towering banners explaining the history of the project. Participants can also control their motion and vision in this world, as curated by Phøenix, so they can experience Taylor's presence at their own pace.

"When everyone stops saying a name, then that person is actually dead," Phøenix said. "Hopefully, as this technology becomes more common for families, they will start to use it almost like the new Polaroid."

Breonna's Garden is inseparable from the memories of her life. Ju'Niyah Palmer said that the goal is not to act like her sister was a perfect person, because no one is. But she said the exhibition will show people that the life she led was one of love. During the experience, participants will find themselves in a room coveredwith Taylor's image where a hologram of her mother appears and speaks. Later, in another tulip-riddled garden, each tulip plays a recording of a different person from Taylor's life sharing a cherished memory.

One tulip carries Tamika Palmer's voice. Through the tulip, Palmer says her daughter would always ask her what she wanted for her birthday. Since her mother didn't want her to have to buy anything, she would always say something excessive, like a house or a motorcycle. She says Breonna would laugh and say "Someday I'm going to make enough to get that for you, but for today, what can I get for 100 bucks?"

Taylor's work as an EMT and in the medical field were front of mind when creating the garden, Phøenix said. She said that when people enter that kind of space, one full of memories and beauty and open love, it creates an environment in which one can heal from loss, in the same way Breonna worked as an EMT.

"This technology means that just because her physical body is no longer here does not mean that we cannot assist her in forwarding her ambitions and purpose," she said.

At one point in the experience, participants walk through a tunnel made of purple tulips and emerge into a clearing where a hologram of Walker appears and shares a memory of Breonna's favorite song. His birthday is five days after hers, and he told The Courier Journal the two of them would always have a joint celebration.

For him, the day was about bringing people together as a reminder that their fight for collective justice is not yet over.

"Just keep her name alive," he said. "Keep saying, 'Justice for Breonna Taylor.'"

A month after she died, Breonna's Law unanimously passed the Louisville Metro Council, banned "no-knock" warrants used in the police raid where Officer Myles Cosgrove shot and killed her. It also requires police to turn on body cameras when serving warrants.

But Ju'Niyah Palmer said that since then, there have been many times she's felt like the city does not want to do anything about their fight. That people just want her to forget about it.

Chief among the family's demands have been for the officers involved in the shooting to be charged and convicted of murder or manslaughter. None of the three officers who fired shots at Taylor's apartment were charged in her death, and Detective Brett Hankison was recently acquitted of wanton endangerment over shots that went into an adjacent apartment.

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"A lot of people have said, well, the cops are never wrong," Ju'Niyah Palmer said. "But some officers serve and then don't protect. That's a fact."

Near the end of the VR experience, there is a gigantic, decadent lotus flower that participants can enter. Inside the flower is Breonna, standing in a shimmery white and pink dress. Suddenly, Ju'Niyah Palmer appears, black shirt and blue jeans traded in for an elegant yellow gown. Taylor smiles faintly as her sister begins to share stories of what their life was like together.

For Palmer, the day was a reminder that she will always have that. A reminder that, no matter what, she will always stand side by side with her sister.

"To me, this event is a love story. A love story of two sisters, separated by violence, but reunited through a transformative justice and the tools we have available to us today," Phøenix said.

Reach reporter Thomas Birmingham @CBirmingham@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @cthomasbirm. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor memories come to life at Louisville birthday event