People don't talk about the stress that Black people endure.
When you see so much of people dying that look like you
and you're desensitized to it,
that goes into your stress, that goes into your trauma
- generational trauma and historical trauma -
and that leads to the worst health outcomes,
which is how my artistry ties into the healthcare system
and that's why I'm so passionate about
public health and everything.
Hi, my name is Gabrielle Milton.
I'm a D23 at Tufts dental school.
I'm the president of the
Social Justice Literacy and Advocacy Club.
Also the president-elect of the
Student National Dental Association.
I really enjoy art and dentistry because
I feel like dentistry is art.
I feel like I'm back in the studio,
creating new art pieces.
And I just feel like there's a lot of correlation.
I'm from Charleston, South Carolina.
So a lot of the racial injustices that were going on during 2015
when I was a senior is what led me to most of my
art concentration pieces.
This is probably my favorite piece because
I was able to incorporate myself in the piece.
So, if you look in the left-hand corner
you actually see my reflection.
And I feel like so many Black women can resonate with this piece.
During this time growing up,
I had chemically straightened hair, which is permed.
A lot of African-Americans get permed hair
to basically assimilate.
We're all just trying to chase these European standards.
It's just crazy how we have to assimilate.
We have to code switch.
We have to straighten our hair.
So after doing my research, I decided that I want to go natural.
So, I stopped getting chemically straightened hair or perms.
So I cut off all my hair and I was constantly bullied.
I was even bullied by family members.
I've been in internships with biracial directors
that told me they don't like my natural hair and that
had they known that I had my natural hair like this
they wouldn't have hired me,
even though I'm gonna do the same job.
I would constantly post these pictures
from magazines of natural Black women.
And I put them all over my bathroom,
you could not see the wall.
And I constantly had these people to look up to
and aspire and to motivate me.
I feel like Black women, we are the backbone of everything.
We're the backbone of civil rights movements.
The Black Panther Party was led by a Black woman.
Martin Luther King had a group of Black women behind him.
And I'm really excited to see
where Black women continue going.
And I think this is the time where
we need to empower Black women.
I love 9 Mile Road to Education because it's my mom's favorite.
And this story is about my grandmother
who would have to walk nine miles each day
with her two friends,
to and from school.
I just want to represent her.
So her shoe is the one that's on the ice.
She has a smaller foot
because the other two people that she would walk to school with
were older than her.
And it was really disappointing because
she would walk past and there'd be people in buses,
white students, that'd be laughing at them
while they walked through all different types of terrain,
different weather to get to and from school
just to get to the education that they so desperately need.
Early 1900's Nightmare, I actually won an award for this
for the best concentration piece.
I entitled it Early 1900's Nightmare because
it was about my great-grandmother.
My grandmother actually told me this story.
And she was living in Georgia at the time.
And she went for a walk at night
and walked in on somebody being lynched.
So she could not sleep for three months.
If you look at this piece you'll notice that
there's three parts.
So the top portion is the rope,
the noose, and then there's a pillow.
And then there's the feathers.
I wanted this to be very eerie,
but also beautiful because art to me is gorgeous,
but I needed to prove a point.
During George Floyd
and during Breonna Taylor's death,
that was a really hard time for me during dental school.
There were times where I did not get any sleep.
And there are times, like days, where I would not eat.
I lost a lot of weight during George Floyd.
While on top of us living in a pandemic
we have to go through racial injustice.
So this Early 1900's Nightmare,
it resembles what modern-day lynchings are to me.
I resonate so much with this piece
and I resonate with my great-grandmother,
who couldn't sleep for three months
because I couldn't sleep, too, from watching this.
But I feel like in order to bring about change
you have to go through some uncomfortable situations
which is one of my favorite quotes that I live by.
Black people's history,
it has been swept under the rug
and I wanted this art piece to be as loud as possible.
I think this time has taught everybody to be empathetic.
Are you willing to see these issues within your family
and these issues within yourself?
And what are you gonna do about it?
It's one thing to live in a privileged bubble,
but once you see all these issues,
what are you gonna do that's going to stand out?