In November 2012 I stayed for five days in a hostel near Mount Vernon Square in Washington DC and I almost immediately fell in love with this great city and its citizens. I met great people, I visited amazing museums, enjoyed the Potomac river and the countryside surrounding DC but was surprised by the gigantic parkinglots around Mount Vernon Square. Memorable days
I learned that the parkinglots were remnants of the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots following the April 4th 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement-leader Martin Luther King Jr. and I wondered if it would be possible to make a work of art about Martin Luther King Jr. ’s “American Dream”, the assassination, and the subsequent riots?
1968 Whirligig
In the Smitsonian I found some great American whirligig “folkart” and at that moment I decided to make a whirligig together with eyewitnesses (first responders, victim’s and offenders) of the 1968 riots and children of all ages from Washington DC to memorize this historic grounds in the now vivid neighbourhood Mont Vernon Triangle.
See also:
I Will Win – The War (november 2013)
I Love DC (november 2013)