A new temporary art installation titled “Break Water” by D.C.-based mixed media artist Nekisha Durrett debuts on Saturday, March 21 at Alexandria’s Waterfront Park, bringing forward powerful historical narratives through contemporary visual language.
The sculpture, which will remain on display through November, draws inspiration from Alexandria’s waterfront, where natural forces and human activity intersect, often with profound consequences for the community.
ALXnow caught up with Durrett for an interview on Friday as she finished up the final details of the installation.
“History, particularly Black history, is something that is always being attempted to be erased,” Durrett told ALXnow. “So it’s kind of important for me to lure people in with little breadcrumbs and kind of trick them into learning something.”
The installation’s centerpiece features blackened wood that evokes the sidewheel of the steamboat River Queen, a vessel with significant historical importance. The River Queen has a storied past dating back to the Civil War when it was used by President Lincoln to travel the Potomac.
In 1911, the steamer was purchased by Lewis Jefferson, a Black entrepreneur from Washington, D.C. Shortly after his purchase, the vessel was mysteriously destroyed by fire.
“At the turn of the century, when Black folks started to accumulate a small amount of wealth, they often became targets, and their property often became targets,” Durrett explained. “There is no record that states that it was arson, but it’s pretty clear.”
The wooden structure is encircled by approximately 500 black sandbags containing about five tons of coal slag, a byproduct of coal refining that resembles black sand. These sandbags serve multiple symbolic purposes, honoring the resilience and strength of Black communities while referencing both protection and endurance during crises.
Durrett’s inspiration for using sandbags came from observing the site itself. “I was curious about the flooding of the site,” she says. “We were watching a time-lapse, and you can see the water kind of ebb and flow. And then what I noticed was that these sandbags would appear and disappear to protect the site.”
Beneath the sculpture, a ground mural of tangled, taut ropes called “Life Lines” appears to tether the artwork to the park’s architectural elements. The ropes represent tension and the idea of “trying to hold on to something that is slipping away,” according to the artist.
The installation also contains subtle elements that visitors might miss on first viewing. A silhouette traced on the ground represents an unnamed enslaved woman whose body was discovered in the Potomac near this location, as documented in historical letters Durrett uncovered during her research.
“There was a businessman from Rhode Island writing home to his wife about the strange customs in Alexandria,” Durrett recounts. “He had walked past this site on the waterfront and there was an enslaved woman’s body. She had been drowned and her body was just laid out on display for days.”
At night, the installation illuminates with an orange glow that, when viewed from a distance, resembles a flame – another reference to the River Queen’s fiery end.
The title “Break Water” carries multiple layers of meaning. It references physical breakwaters that protect shorelines, while also alluding to the concept of the “break” in jazz music.
“The jazz break is this moment in a song where there’s a change in the tempo and it allows the musicians to freestyle,” Durrett explained. “That’s a metaphor for the survival of Black people in America – these moments where there’s a break and there’s a world of possibility that ultimately lead to our strength and survival.”
The Office of the Arts invites the public to an opening reception on Saturday, March 22, at 1 p.m. at Waterfront Park, located at 1A Prince Street. The event will feature music, art activities by the Mobile Art Lab, and opening remarks from Durrett at 1:30 p.m.
This installation marks the seventh in the “Site See: New Views in Old Town” annual public art series at Waterfront Park.
Durrett’s work extends beyond Alexandria. She recently completed a sculpture called “Queen City” in Arlington at the HQ2 headquarters, which serves as a monument to a community that was destroyed for the construction of the Pentagon in 1941. She also has permanent installations at the Phillips Collection and in the vestibule of MLK Library in Washington, D.C.
Through her art, Durrett aims to illuminate individual and collective histories of Black life and imagination that are often overlooked.
“I think people know that our strength lies in being informed and being well-read and knowing history, whether it’s good, bad, ugly – it’s who we are,” Durrett said. “And it’s important to face that history.”
