St. Croix artist La Vaughn Belle and Danish artist Jeannette Ehlers will lead a series of talks and open forums on all three islands to discuss their groundbreaking public art project “I am Queen Mary”, a release issued Thursday made known.
On March 31 Ms. Belle and Ms. Ehlers inaugurated their collaborative monument in Copenhagen and created a global conversation around Denmark’s colonial past, Queen Mary and the Fireburn and the impact of public art. The project was covered in over 100 media outlets, including the New York Times, the BBC, the Guardian, Time magazine and Le Monde, with an estimated reach of 1 billion people.
The sculpture also generated controversy at home, with many questioning the artists’ decision to use their own likeness for the monument.
I Am Queen Mary used a mix of traditional and high tech sculpture techniques to create a large scale monument in Denmark, the point of departure for which is the historical figure Mary Thomas, an important leader of the ‘Fireburn’ labour revolt on St. Croix.
Sponsored by the USVI Department of Tourism and CHANT, the artists have launched a three-island artist talk tour and public forum to engage with the Virgin Islands community about their project. With a combination of public, private and non-profit sector hosts, the talks will occur on St. Croix on Saturday, July 14 at 11:00 am to 1:00 p.m. at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts. On St. John, it will occur on Sunday, July 15 at 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Bajo El Sol Gallery, and on St. Thomas on Monday, July 16 at 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Legislature building by invitation of the office of Senator Myron Jackson.
For more information, call: 340-332-6236, or send an email to [email protected].
Tags: fireburn, queen mary monument, us virgin islands, usvi
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