The Commons

A Monumental Moment

A traveling exhibition focusing on African American history lands in Philadelphia.

Hank Willis Thomas’s All Power to the People with the PMA in the background. Atraveling, outdoor art installation, now in the city, offers an opportunity to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day by exploring aspects of the African American experience. The installation and its sculptures invite people to consider issues of colonization, Black middle-class labor, the decline of industry, and the prison pipeline. But it also illuminates Black power, Black pride, and Black joy.

Called Monumental Tour and mounted by the cultural equity initiative Kindred Arts, the exhibition features sculptural works by Arthur Jafa, Coby Kennedy, Christopher Myers, and Hank Willis Thomas at four carefully considered locations around the city. Their pieces have rotated through cities around the country—New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and elsewhere. In Philadelphia, the exhibition has been dedicated to the city’s first African American architect, Julian Francis Abele.

For Thomas’s All Power to the People, this will be its second appearance in Philadelphia. The sculpture, which joins together two symbols of Black identity—the Afro pick and the Black Power salute—was part of the 2017 Monument Lab project. Today, it sits in Eakins Oval, just across from one of Abele’s most famous buildings, the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Christopher Myers’ Caliban’s Hands, referencing the enslaved character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, addresses the suppression of indigenous cultures

Christopher Myers’ Caliban’s Hands in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Shakespeare Park.

by colonialism. Myers’ piece is situated at Shakespeare Park, in front of the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, also designed by Abele.

Coby Kennedy’s steel and glass Kalief Browder: The Box replicates the dimensions of a solitary confinement cell and incorporates texts and graphs that critique the American incarceration system. (Browder was a Black teenager who died by suicide after spending three years on Rikers Island without being convicted of a crime.) Kennedy’s piece is situated at Thomas Paine Plaza, where the statue of former mayor and police chief Frank Rizzo once stood.

The exhibition ends just north of Queen Village, at the Cherry Street Pier with Big Wheel IV, an installation of four monster-truck tires shackled by a mesh of iron chain. For the artist, Arthur Jafa, the piece speaks to the process of deindustrialization and the way it dashed the aspirations of the Black middle class. Big Wheel includes a sound component—a loop of songs by Philadelphia’s own Teddy Pendergrass.

There are many ways to experience the exhibit, whether by walking to the locations accompanied by an audio tour or by taking a virtual tour from home. The installation, which runs through January 30, 2022, has been supported by the City of Philadelphia and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

To learn more, visit www.monumentaltour.org. ■

Arthur Jafa’s Big Wheel IV at the Cherry Street Pier.

Pragmatic)Counsel.))Diligent)Advocacy.)

Ten!Penn!Center,!Suite!6301845 1801!Market!Street Philadelphia,!PA!!19103

T:!!(215)!667.8011 F:!!(215)!914.6332 www.fungefamilylaw.com

Queen Village Queen Village Volunteers Volunteers

Sign up @ QVNA.org/Volunteer

Knowledge and Experience Combined with Your Best Interests in Mind

Direct: 267-225-3678 Office: 215-627-3500 deidre@deidrequinn.com deidrequinn.com

1619 Walnut St, 5th FL Philadelphia, PA 19103

Working with Deidre was AMAZING. She and her team are so organized and on top of things. Up to date on market trends, takes a zero-pressure approach, has an amazing photographer that took the most gorgeous photos of my home, and handled some unforeseen issues with ease, positivity, and reassurance. This is the team you can feel great about trusting when buying/selling your home. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about my experience in working with them.