Firm： Cliff Garten Studio
Type： Cultural › Memorial
STATUS： Built
YEAR： 2018
In this important new American Civil Rights Memorial, sculpture and poetry combine to create an interactive and educational experience inspiring future generations to stand up for social justice and positive change. I AM A MAN Plaza is a large-scale landscape sculpture commissioned to honor the members of the pivotal 1968 Sanitation Workers’ Strike and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A focal point of the Civil Rights Movement, the strike brought Dr. King to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the Strikers, when he was assassinated. The strike and its I Am a Man slogan came to represent the struggle of the working poor for racial equality in Memphis and beyond.
The artist led a design team and held an open dialogue with the greater Memphis community, who through a series of public workshops selected pertinent historical text and created an original text which is etched into the marble gates defining the Plaza’s entry. The Strike’s timeline of events is carved into a large elliptical granite paving ring and their 1,300 names are etched into the Memorial wall framing the lawn and central plaza. The 12-feet-tall I AM A MAN sculptural block letters at the center of the memorial plaza are built of bronze on one side of the sculpture and mirror-polished stainless steel on the other side reflecting the dialectical struggle for equality. The block letters are laser cut with the text from Dr. King’s last speech in Memphis. The combination of text and sculpture is a meditation on America’s struggle and progress with racism and class inequity since the Sanitation Workers and Dr. Martin Luther King took their historic stand in Memphis. I AM A MAN Plaza provides visitors a continuing point of reflection and inspiration on the events of 1968 within this National Historic Landmark site
Credits:
- Allworld Project Management, LLC - On-Site Project Management
- Metal Arts Foundry - Fabrication and Installation of I AM A MAN Sculpture
- Poet and Spoken Word Artist - Troy L. Wiggins
- Whitney Anderson Building Group, LLC - Masonry
- Patrell Engineering Group, Inc. - Engineer
- Poet and Spoken Word Artist - Steve Fox
- Cliff Garten Studio Associates Inc., (DBA) Cliff Garten Studio - Lead Designer - Cliff Garten
- JPA Inc. - Landscape Architect of Record - John Jackson
- Precise Contracting, LLC - General Contractor
- Quarra Stone Company - Fabrication of Marble and Granite
- City of MEmphis - Community Engagement - Felicia Harris
- Urban Art Commission - Administrative and Consulting - Lauren Kennedy
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