PROTEST!
Cleveland, OH [Public Square] [2017]
Aluminum, Concrete [Budget 55k]
The 4 steel silhouettes commissioned for Cleveland's Public Square were inspired by the desire to acknowledge and celebrate it's long and storied history as a city-sanctioned speaker’s platform and site of protest, peace rallies, and civic gatherings of all kinds; and in this installation, several characters are engaged in various forms of that exercise.
There is an element of passionate dissent in the sculptures that depict a man and woman holding megaphones, while a more moderate form of public engagement is exhibited by the person holding up flyers or newspapers. In another sculpture a moment of reconciliation is shown between protesters of possibly differing views or perhaps it is a display of camaraderie between two individuals sharing not only similar ideologies, but a heartfelt hug.
The result is an installation that strives to reinforce the notion that at the root of any successful democracy is the right of all members of its citizenry to challenge, question, critique, and ultimately be heard.
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