Next week, Sandy Williams IV will submit his proposal for an art installation in Alexandria to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Williams’ proposal for public art to adorn the courtyard of the Alexandria Circuit Court (520 King Street) from April to November must first receive approval from the city’s Commission for the Arts. The design is still under wraps, although the artist, who is known for creating pieces that defy convention, says that the issues the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrestled with in 1776 are similar to those faced by contemporary Americans.
“I think a lot of interesting conversations can happen in the space of thinking through who wrote that document, when they wrote it, a critical analysis of the contradictions and hypocrisies of them writing those words, how it leads to the Constitution,” Williams said. “It’s a list of grievances that are really interesting. I think, especially in the moment we are in today, this could have been written today in a lot of ways, like some of the questions that they are asking and some of the things that they’re asking for.”
Williams, who lives in Richmond and teaches art at the University of Richmond, said that the Declaration is subject to interpretation.
“We learn about what it means to people before we actually read it ourselves,” Williams said. “Like, I grew up going to church, but it was a long time before I read the Bible. So, I’m as interested in this greater conversation about what (the Declaration of Independence) means to other people, as I am about what it means to me and how I might critically analyze it. It’s been a lot of conversations with our task force and invested people in the project, in my own social circles and in my classroom, too.”
Williams is known for creating wax recreations of famous monuments, and has encouraged the public to light the wicks and burn them down. One statue, a six-foot-tall likeness of a seated Abraham Lincoln outside a D.C. elementary school, garnered big news when it melted in a heatwave. Another sculpture, a bronze monument commemorating enslaved workers at Roanoke College, showed hundreds of stacked books. On the spines of the books were names of former slaves.
Williams’ proposal for a sculpture in Alexandria will be reviewed by a public art task force next week. If approved by the task force, the design will be submitted to the Commission for the Arts, which will review it at its meeting on Tuesday, October 21.
