Triumph of the Human Spirit is one of the sculptures that the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation is highlighting during Black History Month to honor the African American experience. This fifty-foot granite abstract sculpture, by artist Lorenzo Pace, is inspired by the “Chi Wara” carved antelope headdresses of the Bamana people in Mali, West Africa, and sits within a boat-like structure symbolizing the “middle passage” of enslaved Africans to the West Indies and Americas. Set in Foley Square in downtown Manhattan near the site of a Colonial-era African-American burial ground where as many as 10,000 men, women, and children were interred (residents of African descent in New Amsterdam and New York were enslaved from 1625 until 1827), the sculpture “symbolizes freedom and endurance.” The park’s signage also notes: “Besides its universal message, it was created with the artist’s own personal ancestry in mind, and its granite base contains a replica of the inherited lock and key which were used to enslave his great-great grandfather Steve Pace.”
Living History
Identity
Left to Right: Roman Flowers, Glory, and The Reminders by Krystle Collins
In honor of Black History Month, Identity features works in fiber by nine artists that explore imagery of people of the African Diaspora. The exhibit, curated by Michelle Bishop of Harlem Needle Arts and presented with the NYC Parks Ebony Society, which has helped organize the annual Black History Month exhibition at the Arsenal Gallery since 1991, presents pieces in a variety of media including embroidery, soft sculpture, quilt, and mixed media. I especially loved the inventive embroidery pieces by Krystle Collins. Located at the Arsenal building at 5th Avenue and 64th Street, the pieces have "elements of swag, spirituality, icons, music, and social justice" and "the works illustrate self-awareness, identify, motivation, and varying backgrounds and traditions that govern the artists’ lives." The exhibit is on display through February 23, 2018.