This morning the city of Newark, New Jersey celebrated the unveiling of a new Harriet Tubman monument. “Shadow of a Face” (2023), installed downtown on Harriet Tubman Square, was conceived by artist and New Jersey native Nina Cooke John and pays homage to Tubman and the city’s role in facilitating the Underground Railroad.
The town square, formerly known as Washington Park, was renamed in honor of Harriet Tubman on June 16, 2022. In 2020, an existing statue of Christopher Columbus was removed at the request of Mayor Ras Baraka in anticipation of a site-specific conflict unfolding during the Black Lives Matter protests that summer.
“At a time when so many cities are choosing to topple statues that limit the scope of their people’s history, we have chosen to erect a monument that thrusts us into our future history with exemplary strength and solidity. “said Mayor Baraka at the unveiling today. , March 9. “In a country where the overwhelming majority of monuments are testimonies of white men, Newark chose to erect a monument to a black woman who was barely five feet tall, but had the face and power of a giant. “
“Shadow of a Face” refers to a line from Robert Hayden’s 1962 poem “Runagate Runagatehonoring Harriet Tubman and highlighting the dangerous experience of seeking freedom through the Underground Railroad. THE monument is composed huge welded cross outlines of Tubman’s figure with her arms at her hips in the center of a wraparound concrete structure with a sculpture of Tubman’s face. A separate wrap surrounds the back of the monument, consisting of panels of educational text about Newark’s history in Black Liberation and ceramic mosaic tiles created by the people of Newark to cement their presence in this historic moment.
Residents were also invited to share recordings of their personal stories of liberation to be included in a permanent on-site audio clip that complements the monument, creating a multi-sensory experience that highlights the history, present and future of Black people in Newark. in the foreground.
Cooke John often creates works at the intersection of design and architecture. In an interview with PBSshe expressed her goal of engaging visitors with the sculpture on a physical level.
“What I hope is that people really connect with Harriet Tubman on a personal level and see her more as an ordinary person who did heroic things,” Cooke John said. “They can walk around the monument, they can touch its face – it can be something they can be more connected to.”
Cooke John’s proposal was selected in June 2021 through an open national call. The project was spearheaded by the City of Newark’s Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Fayemi Shakur, and was funded by the city, the Mellon Foundation, Audible (headquarters in the plaza), and individual residents through various arts and cultural organizations in Newark.
Audible has developed the monument’s audio component and will allow users to listen for free by adding the segments to the Audible Places app later this spring. The Newark Museum of Art will host a public program called Community day: its history/our history to celebrate the monument this Saturday, March 11.
