Though it’s tempting to hole up inside to escape the summer heat, meaningful art makes a sunny jaunt worth the trip. Crafted with the intention to provoke thought and help us catch our collective breath, temporary art installations by Sam Durant, Melvin Edwards, Mimi Lien, Guadalupe Maravilla and Sam Moyer installed across Manhattan and Queens this season are both grounding and impactful. They remind us of what we’ve overcome and what we must not ignore, they give us hope and a space to heal and they are a testament to New York’s diversity and the beauty of urban nature.
Brighter Days at City Hall Park by Melvin Edwards
Through November 28
Brighter Days is a collection of six sculptures created by artist Melvin Edwards between 1970 and 1996, and again in 2020. Despite the decades between them, they share a visual object in common: the artist’s use of steel links, both broken or unbroken. Chains can either hold us together or hold us back, but the site of these artworks, an African burial ground as well as a frequent location for 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, reminds us of the consequences of the latter, in the prejudices caused by slavery that we still see in the United States today. At the same time, the symbolism of the broken chains and the collection’s hopeful title are serve as a monument to liberation and optimism. Edwards’s signature motif emphasizes a painful past but also serves as an emblem of unity.
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Read full article at culturedmag.com.
