Legendary sculptor Melvin Edwards has spent his 50-year long career creating public art for display all over the world. He is currently being honored with a retrospective collection in front of City Hall in Manhattan, featuring several sculptures created between 1970 and 1996, and one new work, commissioned in 2020. Titled “Song of the Broken Chains,” this new sculpture consists of several enormous chain links, broken open and glittering in the sunlight. All of the sculptures in the retrospective include chains in some form, as chains are a signature motif for the artist. In his work, he utilizes the formal qualities of chains—their movement, shape, and weight—while exploring the various metaphorical meanings of the material. In Edwards’ work, chains “can represent bonds that [either] constrain or unite us, while broken fragments might suggest [either] liberation or loss.” Often present in his work is also the clear historical connection to chains “as tools of slavery and violence.” His most recent piece has a sense of optimism, with the broken chain links “suggesting both liberation and rupture,” shining brightly on the site of both a colonial African Burial Ground and New York’s Black Lives Matter protests.