There are many things Trinidadians are known for across the world. Trinidad and Tobago-born, US-based Nadine Otego Seiler, 57, is adding another to the list.

That is because she helped to save and curate signage from the historic Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence and the Black Lives Matter Movement, which introduced a new wave of discussion about race relations in the US. Otego Seiler and fellow protester Karen Irwin worked to find a home for more than 1,000 items from the events. Irwin, 47, from New York City, helped Otego Seiler with the exhibit.

The pieces – also part of an online exhibition at the US Library of Congress website – will now be on display at the DC Public Library.

The library’s website says the DC Public Library, in collaboration with its partners, is presenting a special exhibit to highlight the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence Artefact Collection, a digital collection comprising 1,600 images on posters, photographs, and other items.

[caption id="attachment_985705" align="alignnone" width="485"] The flag atop the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, December 19, 2020. - courtesy Nadine Otego Seiler[/caption]

A visit to the library's website shows the pieces – some of which read: Abolish Police; We Keep Us Safe; Abolition is Liberation; Black Lives Matter – and pictures of victims of hate crimes and police brutality in the US, such as Ahmaud Arbery.

Arbery was 25-years-old when he murdered while jogging in Glynn County, Georgia, in a racially-motivated crime.

The exhibition runs from October 28-February 24, and is on display at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library.

“Special thanks to Nadine Seiler and Karen Irwin, curators of the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, for the loan and installation of original material from the fence,” the website said.

[caption id="attachment_985706" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Nadine Otego Seiler discussing the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence Collection Exhibit, at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library with fellow BLM protesters Josef Palermo on October 29. 2022. - courtesy Probal Rashid[/caption]

The pieces were made by individuals, groups and artists, Otego Seiler said.

"The majority of protest art were done on cardboard which people had in hand.

Otego Seiler’s work drew a lot of media attention in the US.

She grew up at Back Street, Tunapuna, and attended St Augustine Senior Comprehensive, then left TT in 1987.

[caption id="attachment_985707" align="alignnone" width="720"] Nadine Otego Seiler at the Women's March for reproductive justice, October 8, 2022 - courtesy Karin Schall[/caption]

When she first moved to the US, like many Trinidadians and Caribbean nationals, went on a visa and overstayed.

“When I came, for the first three or four years, I could not speak, because I was an ‘illegal immigrant,’” she said in a phone interview. “I had to be in the shadows and not say anything.

"I got my papers straightened out in the