The next Waterfront Park art project is built to flood.
The next piece, the seventh in a series of public art projects at the park, is called Break Water by artist Nekisha Durrett. A presentation at the Commission for the Arts last night showed some of the first images of the project and dove into the eclectic variety of influences, including the fact that the project is designed with frequent flooding on the waterfront in mind.
The project features a representation of the sidewheel from a steamboat called the River Queen. The River Queen was the location of an unsuccessful peace conference during the last year of the Civil War. In the early 20th century, the boat frequently hosted local Black patrons and was a popular recreational ship. The River Queen was sold to a Black owner but was burned in a suspected act of arson in 1911.
The recreational use could be represented in the final product with a shuffleboard court or other era-appropriate games on a mural around the site. Some Commissioners expressed doubt the asphalt at the park would make the best shuffleboard court, but staff answered that’s something that would be figured out. Part of the black coloring on the wheel is also meant to evoke the ship returning from the ashes of its burning.
The sidewheel will sit on top of a stack of black sandbags, which have a dual meaning. The first is a link to frequent flooding in Old Town. Staff said every time Durrett visited Waterfront Park is was underwater and Durrett was inspired by the sandbags she saw stacked up around local businesses.
The final product might have a mix of real and “structural” sandbags due to concern about wear-and-tear on the real sandbags, but the idea is to have sandbags filled with black sand stacked up around the base of the artwork. The presentation said there may also be a community event to fill the sandbags, inspired by the emergency preparation before flooding in the city.
The presentation said the other inspiration behind the sandbags is the monument to Duke de Richelieu in Odessa, Ukraine. The statue was covered with sandbags in an effort to avoid its destruction during the invasion of Ukraine.
The sandbags could also feature screen printed designs inspired by the designs carved on the roof soffits of Monticello by John Hemmings.
The final major influence listed in the presentation was a series of deaths by Black Alexandrians in the Potomac River, from a newspaper clipping of a woman found dead in the late 18th century to two boys who drowned in the river in the 1950s — in large part because Black Alexandrians were denied access to safe swimming facilities.
The Commission for the Arts unanimously approved the concept.
The project is scheduled to be on display in the park from March to November 2025.
