Thursday, September 9, 2021

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 43

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 43 

I first came to know about Lincoln Park after our son and his family moved to DC. I liked the green space in the middle of the city block and was intrigued by the two statues in the park. But I have cringed every time I saw one of the the statues ‘The Emancipation Statue’ of Lincoln and a free slave at his feet. (Oops!  I just noticed my spelling mistake in sketch !) So it did not surprise me in October 18, 2020 when we were visiting, that there was a raging debate about replacing or removing the statue. As everywhere else there was a fence around the statue and notes were left on the fence by people expressing their opinions or supporting’Black Lives Matter.’ On our walk that day, I saw in  one of the old red fire and call boxes near the park, a prototype of replacement sculpture that showed Barack Obama and Lincoln, with miniature flags flanking the two presidents. Unfortunately,  I do not know who the artist is. 

Replace the Emancipation Memorial 

 When I went to sketch it later in the Smithsonian Engagement 2020, I was tickled to see the photograph for the week. ‘36 Takeouts, Groceries, and Restaurants in Wards 7 and 8 Washington DC, 2018’ by Susana Raab.  A photographer at the Anacostia Community Museum, Raab cataloged urban stores in the neighborhoods east of Anacostia River in Washington DC. Lincoln park is ward 6. 

4 comments:

Lisa Graham said...

What a great project you are working on Meera. Your sketches are really good and so detailed.

ashok said...

Interesting history... Thanks for sharing meera

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Lisa !!! It was indeed a fun project to do during pandemic :)

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Ashok :)

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