Florida native, and public artist George Gadson along with the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners will be unveiling the “Sankofa” sculpture on Monday, June 19 at 10 am on the West Lawn of the Alachua County Administration Building.
“We initiated several “calls to artists” before soliciting nominations for names of prominent, deceased, African American Alachua County citizens to be the inspiration for a sculpture to replace the Confederate Soldier statue on the West Lawn,” says Assistant County Manager-Chief of Staff County Manager’s Office, Gina Peebles CPRP.
“Eleven nominations were received and vetted by the Community Remembrance Program Committee and Alachua County Historical Commission. The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners chose Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn (1963 – 2020) as the honoree on the bronze Sankofa sculpture.”
The artwork also symbolizes the remembrance inherent in the public holiday ‘Juneteenth,’ realized on June 19th of every year since Slave Emancipation on June 19, 1865, one and half years after the official Emancipation Day of January 1, 1863.
It took almost two years for the Emancipation Proclamation to be enacted in some of the United States.
Artist Gadson said, “Being born and raised in Fort Meade, Florida, I consider myself part of its history, and this project and its location is near and dear to me, as well as the symbolism and cultural significance of the honoree and the holiday.”
Gadson continued, “The message is looking back in order to learn from our past while acknowledging our ancestral roots, and keeping focus on the future for growth and development within ourselves and our communities. We should continue to create and imagine new visions in unity and uniqueness for everyone.”
Sankofa is a word derived from the Twi Language of Ghana, meaning ‘to retrieve’ and is also connected with the Bono Adinkra Symbol, represented by a heart or, as in this case, the shape of a bird with its head turned backward, while its feet face forward and carrying a precious egg in its mouth. This is to remind us that we must always look back, while we aspire to move forward.
The mission of the Alachua County public arts program is to enhance the quality of its visual environment, thereby adding to the quality of life and the level of citizen awareness of the importance of aesthetic and meaningful experiences in their everyday lives.
The West Lawn of the County Administration Building formerly displayed a Confederate Soldier statue for more than 100 years.
Its placement became a divisive issue; therefore, the Board of County Commissioners voted to return it to the Daughters of the Confederacy, who originally donated it to the County in 1904. The Confederate Soldier statue was peacefully relocated in 2017.
