Feature

Bethel Burying Ground Memorial Moves to Next Phase

With careful deliberation and robust community engagement, the City’s Art Commission has given the green light to Karen Olivier’s design.

By Duncan Spencer

Hopefully by now, everybody knows that the design selection for the Historic Bethel Burying Ground Memorial is complete and that plans from local artist Karyn Olivier have been approved by the Philadelphia Art Commission. Along with QVNA President Eleanor Ingersoll, I had the pleasure of serving on the City’s Bethel Burying Ground (BBG) Memorial Committee, which helped make the selection.

The project is now in the contract stage with groundbreaking expected around September 2021. The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy secured a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for cultural programming around themes of The Bethel Burying Ground (BBG) Memorial, with details forthcoming.

For those curious about the BBG Memorial Committee’s process, this is it: We considered the anonymous scores from the public’s surveys, and we met each artist, via video, to hear their vision firsthand. Then we discussed each proposal, scored it independently, considered pros

and cons, and ultimately selected Olivier’s plans with recommendations.

To answer the recommendation for enhancing the artistry to make the Memorial’s presence more powerful, Olivier made some additions. The archway and gate have been redesigned with the Ghanaian symbol of a bird, head turned backwards and feet forward, carrying a precious egg in its mouth. That symbol is associated with the Ghanaian proverb, “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” Other additions are a granite headstone on the seat wall that identifies the site as the Bethel Burying Ground and more granite text panels.

It bears remembering that one of the important aspects of the Bethel Burying Ground is that it was a burial mission to provide decent burials for Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church’s congregants and others not permitted burial in the cemeteries of the mainstream religions. Before the Bethel Burying Ground, African Americans were left to bury their dead in Potter’s fields, such as that in Washington Square Park.

A huge thank you goes out to all participants, from Queen Village and beyond, for your impressive turnout and thoughtful comments and discussion. It was very meaningful for the committee to be able to reflect on this engagement in the selection process.

Thank you to Kelly Lee, director of the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, which guided the committee from its inception through this mission. You can follow the link below for information about commemorating the site bit.ly/QVNA_BBG. For information about artist Karyn Olivier, visit bit.ly/BBG_Design. ■