Chrystie St. African Burial Ground Memorial | Lower East Side NYC

14' x 1.5' Steel light pole with metal mesh, scrim print backing.
Juneteenth 2024  |  M'finda Kalunga Garden, LES

 

Note above renderings are concepts, subject to change.

Final design to be shared Spring 2024.
 

At night, African-Americans during the 1800s were required to carry a candle or lantern on the street after curfew in order for people/police to see them. This was known as the "lantern law". This  project  reclaims  this archaic form of surveillance by illuminating Black spaces, starting with the M Finda Kalunga Garden.Using existing  infrastructure, the proposal embeds symbols and narratives into and around the perimeter. Like a halo, a decorated light shade is wrapped around the present lightpost emanating light, African textile  patterns, names of those buried or other related text. The fencing also portrays African symbols connecting it to the other Chamber's Street Burial Ground. Information such as maps are integrated as well to show other potential sites of remembrance, like the Freeman Alley.

 

The artwork is being updated to incorporate simplified African textile mesh patterns on the fencing. Work to be created within a larger studio space.