Teacher empowers her students to see themselves as art

Shane Mukasa, Student Reporting Labs Shane Mukasa, Student Reporting Labs

Rawan Elbaba, Student Reporting Labs Rawan Elbaba, Student Reporting Labs

An artist and educator in Washington, D.C., is using her work to celebrate her students while confronting the lasting effects of redlining. Blu Murphy is helping young people see themselves and their communities as works of art. Shane Mukasa of our journalism training program, PBS News Student Reporting Labs, has the story.

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Finally tonight, a story from PBS News Student Reporting Labs, which is our national high school journalism training program.

In this story, reporter Shane Mukasa meets an artist and educator here in Washington, D.C., who shares her passion for empowering students through art.

Blu Murphy, Artist and Educator: Put your white gloves on before you touch any of my babies, right, because they deserve that level of respect.

I am a photographer. I am a mixed media visual artist. But before anything, I am an educator. I've been teaching for 15 years.

Blu Murphy's works often feature her students, who attend Perry Street Prep, a tuition-free public charter school in Washington, D.C.

I try to instill in my students that, like, you are the art. Seeing brown skin, dark brown skin, beautiful coily hair in art galleries makes you value that even more. You're like, oh, yes, my skin is beautiful. My hair is amazing. It's a literal work of art.

That core memory can change you, right? It can create some type of self-esteem to be like, you know what, I am that girl. I am the main character, right? I am art.

Londyn Evans, Student of Blu Murphy: When I see Ms. Murphy's art, I feel, like, really honored. Seeing how her art has progressed and the meaning behind her art, as I have gotten older, how I interpret it and understand it, it makes me proud. Everybody is drawn to what her art means.

Murphy's art is unique and empowering, and it's designed to celebrate her students like Londyn, who still remembers the day they first met.

I think I was in fourth grade, and I was coming inside from recess, and we were in the lobby, and she stopped me. She said: "Let me take a photo of you."