A statue honoring civil rights hero and US Congressman John Lewis was unveiled last month in Atlanta, created by renowned Jamaican sculptor Basil Watson.
The 12-foot-tall statue, known as the John Lewis Memorial, was installed on August 16, replacing a Confederate monument that had stood for over a century. It depicts Lewis with his hands over his heart, a gesture often associated with his message of love and unity.
John Lewis, a lifelong champion of civil rights and social justice, was a key leader in the Civil Rights Movement. As one of the original Freedom Riders, he bravely rode segregated buses in the 1960s to challenge racial injustice. Lewis also chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was part of the “Big Six” leaders who organized the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Serving Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his passing in 2020, Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2011 for his lifelong dedication to equality.
The statue replaced a 30-foot Confederate obelisk, erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908, which had been a source of national controversy. It was removed in the wake of the 2020 protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder, as it symbolized division and the legacy of the Confederacy.
It’s another major career moment for Basil Watson, who has designed public sculptures and monuments across the world including statues of Martin Luther King Jr, Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Merlene Ottey, among others.
Though a longtime resident of the United States, Watson is the go-to sculptor for major works commissioned by the Jamaican government. He said it’s a satisfying feeling to have garnered this much success in his career so far.
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“When I started building a career, one of my main objectives was to see how I could get a sculpture in the public domain. Now I have quite a bit and it’s really satisfying and inspiring. It’s a great feeling to know that you’re contributing to the public dialogue,” he said in an interview with Caribbean National Weekly.
He said he wants to continue his work to create meaningful pieces across the diaspora.
“Although I now work outside of Jamaica, I’ve always wanted to carry my ‘Jamaicaness’ further into the world and diaspora,” he said.
Asked what else Watson would like to achieve, he said his one big goal is to create a national monument that is known and recognized internationally.
“My bucket list is far from complete. I want to create a good studio and art center and I want to create works on the scale of the Statue of Liberty, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, or the Eiffel Tower. Something really internationally iconic,” he said.
“I could put a piece like that maybe in Jamaica … that is where my ambitions stretch to. It doesn’t get much bigger than that,” Watson told CNW.
In 2022, Basil Watson received the keys to Broward County. He is also a recipient of the Order of Distinction in the Commander class, Jamaica’s fifth-highest honor.
In 2023, Watson won the 2023 Public Statues and Sculpture Association (PSSA) Marsh Award for the most popular new sculpture in the United Kingdom. He won the award for his National Windrush Monument erected in Waterloo Station, London.
