"Eroding Witness is a series of works that chronicle from the 1930s to the early 1970s, the elimination of political leadership within Black Communities across the nation. I have been particularly interested in events that occurred within my hometown of Houston, which are much less well known than events in Chicago or New York.

"The works in Eroding Witness are made from various documents, from FBI memorandums to newspaper headlines to concert posters. These materials are digitally manipulated, and then laser cut into papyrus. The papyrus was chosen because of its connection to Ancient Egypt and its ability to work as a symbol of the archive. The works are about the erosion of memory, and of a certain type of political consciousness in the United States, particularly among the black population. I try to convey loss through the manner in which the imagery and sculptural material are handled. Both are going through different forms of breakdown. The papyrus is being cut by a laser, which means it is being burned, and so is going through a physical degradation, while the imagery/text are experiencing massive degrees of artifacting, and is suffering a breakdown in legibility and transmission."

-Jamal Cyrus

This particular work is about Lee Otis Johnson, a key figure in the Houston Chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). During the time Johnson was active in SNCC, it was under the national leadership of Stokely Carmichael, who in 1966 at an event in Greenwood, Mississippi revealed the slogan and politics of "Black Power" to the Civil Rights movement. Two years later in what might be understood as a way to separate the head from the body of the organization, many of the lead activists within SNCC found themselves in jail, or facing charges, and Lee Otis Johnson was no exception. In the spring of 1968 Johnson found himself facing 30 years in prison for passing a single joint to an undercover HPD officer who had been placed in his organization. Many believed this was undoubtedly a false arrest with political implications, but making that case to the masses of Houstonians who feared the activities of "Black militants" and their growth within the city would not be an easy task. After Johnson's conviction, his lawyers and other supporters continued to work on his behalf, and he was released from prison after serving four years.