Naimah Thomas chose calm colors to depict the softness of Breonna Taylor, the woman who was shot eight times by an officer and killed in her home.
Teddy Phillips opted for bold, bright colors to draw a viewer's gaze to his subject: George Floyd, the man who died in police custody after an officer pinned him to the ground and held a knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Dani Coke and Jill Cartwright are intentional about the words they choose. They want their message to hold weight and depict the truth.
As people flood their streets in protest against police brutality, social-media platforms have experienced a similar wave of content.
Shared to stories and published in posts, people have uplifted a powerful message: Black lives matter.
Many of these artists have gained thousands of new followers, but with that comes a new pressure to create impactful work.
"I feel like maybe I need to do more," Thomas, an artist, told Insider. "Have I done enough as an artist to bring light to situations like this?"
Behind the bold portraits and impactful embroidery, artists are grappling with the tragedy. Some have found their artwork as a way to process, while others have decided to log off for a bit.
"The reason I am gaining popularity is that I made this piece of art about these recent murders," Ciara LeRoy, an artist and designer, told Insider. "I hate that something so tragic and blatantly wrong had to happen for Black artists to get the due and attention that they deserve."
While some artists, like LeRoy and Coke, acknowledge that it's not a Black person's responsibility to educate white people on racism, many have utilized Instagram as a platform to inform and urge people to act.