"We Can't Breathe" confronts its viewer before a single step is taken. Painted in acrylic directly onto a coir welcome mat, Nery Gabriel Lemus transforms one of the most mundane domestic objects into a pointed site of political reckoning. The phrase rendered across its fibrous surface carries the weight of the 2020 civil rights movement and the broader history of racialized violence in America, while the mat itself, an object designed to signal hospitality and threshold, becomes deeply ironic. The tension between the welcoming function of the material and the urgency of its message is precisely where the work's power resides. Lemus, born in Los Angeles in 1977 and trained at Art Center College of Design and CalArts, has long engaged with the social conditions that fracture communities, including poverty, immigration, abuse, and systemic neglect. His practice consistently finds charged meaning in ordinary forms, and this work is a strong example of that approach. By choosing a utilitarian object encountered at the entrance of a home, Lemus insists that these conversations cannot be left outside. The work was completed in 2021, as the country continued to reckon with the events of the preceding year, and its immediacy remains undiminished. Measuring approximately 39 by 60 centimeters, the piece is intimate in scale yet substantial in presence. It is signed by the artist and offered framed, with frame dimensions of approximately 25 by 17 by 2 inches, courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles. Collectors acquiring work in or shipping to California should note that applicable state sales tax will be applied to the purchase.