Fire Hosing -- Kelly Ingram park, Birmingham AL
N 33° 30.997 W 086° 48.820
16S E 517303 N 3708577
This third powerful civil rights memorial sculpture by James Drake is listed on the SIRIS database
Waymark Code: WM106H7
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 03/07/2019
Views: 2
The most surprising aspect of this third of James Drake's amazingly powerful sculptures at Kelly Ingram Park is that as you walk along the Freedom Walk, all you see ahead of you is a blank steel archway. As you pass through the archway, immediately to your left are 2 terrified African-American figures crouching in protective stances on the other side. Until you come through that archway you can't know that they are there, so their sudden appearance so close to you, and the expressions on their faces heighten the surprise.
At the same moment that you see the figures, you see the other 2 pieces of this installation: Fire Department water cannons, that are aimed directly at you.
It's a brilliant way to evoke the fear and pain from being blasted by those water cannons, which is just another of the brutal treatments peaceful African-American protesters faced from Birmingham city government officials during the civil rights era.
TITLE: Fire Hosing
ARTIST(S): James Drake
DATE: 1993
MEDIUM: Patent steel on stone base
CONTROL NUMBER: IAS AL000005
Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link]
PHYSICAL LOCATION:
Kelly Ingram Park
6th Ave N at 16th St S
DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH:
None
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