"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do
wrong." are the important words from Frederic Douglass (1818-1895), the
American social reformer, writer and statesman, who after escaping
from slavery became a leader of the abolitionist movement.
Douglass was celebrated with a memorial —a public art work in the
traffic circle at Central Park West and 110th Street. The memorial
includes a bronze portrait of a Douglass, inspired by nineteenth-century
photographs, crafted by Hungarian-born sculptor Gabriel Koren and an
environmental art work by Harlem-based artist Algernon Miller.
Miller's site specific artwork merges with the landscape and civil
design of this major urban traffic intersection, to include granite
seating and paving
patterns based on traditional African-American quilt motifs, as well as a
bronze perimeter fence with a wagon wheel motif. I found most
compelling the bronze water wall depicting the
Big Dipper constellation that guided the slaves to freedom on the
“underground
railroad.”
