Ancient Goddesses in New York

About Ancestor, Brick House, and Witness - Three Sacred Females that Blessed New York

Ancestor

"This colossal sculpture reflects Kher's cross-cultural identity and her appreciation for India's rich material culture. Every meaning-laden detail and distressed surface of the original hand-crafted object has been meticulously magnified to reflect the journey of this matriarch's creation. In contrast to urban statuary that commemorates historic individuals or events, Ancestor enters the public space as an allegorical representation paying homage to both the generations that came before and those to follow. Kher's temporary monument echoes the spirit of the Statue of Liberty. She is an empowered force fostering a diverse community—a hybrid figure whose symbolic references to multiculturalism and plurality embody the possibility of an interconnected space of belonging and care."

- Bharti Kher: Ancestor, Public Art Fund

Brick House

"Simone Leigh presents Brick House, a 16-foot-tall bronze bust of a Black woman with a torso that combines the forms of a skirt and a clay house. The sculpture's head is crowned with an afro framed by cornrow braids, each ending in a cowrie shell. Brick House is the inaugural commission for the High Line Plinth, a new landmark destination for major public artworks in New York City. This is the first monumental sculpture in Leigh's Anatomy of Architecture series, an ongoing body of work in which the artist combines architectural forms from regions as varied as West Africa and the Southern United States with the human body. The title comes from the term for a strong Black woman who stands with the strength, endurance, and integrity of a house made of bricks."

- The Highline Magazine

Witness

"Havah… to breathe, air, life (2023) is a multi-part project imagined and brought to life by visual artist Shahzia Sikander. The first part of the project is a towering 18-foot bronze sculpture titled Witness (2023), which sits in the maze of Madison Square Park. Witness looks like something that appeared in your dream before. The dream of a feminine figure levitating, with somewhat fluid arms and legs, in brightly shimmering rays of light. It simmers with a divine yet dynamic presence. The second part of Havah is titled NOW (2023) and is installed on the roof of the courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department of the State Supreme Court. The two feminine forms seem to be in dialogue with each other. Both appear to guard the land she sits atop, surveying with her all-seeing eyes. The striking statues by Sikander are part of a visual art project co-commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy, New York."

- Stir World

Sources

Central Park, "Ancestor: A New Sculpture Welcomes Visitors to Central Park," www.centralpark.com, April 21, 2023, https://www.centralpark.com/news/ancestor-a-new-sculpture-welcomes-visitors-to-central-park/.

Robin Hauck, "She's a Goddess," Misstropolis: Spirit & Style, Inside & Out, November 12, 2020, https://www.misstropolis.com/home/simoneleigh.

The Guggenheim, "The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation," The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, accessed March 11, 2024, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/simone-leigh.

"Shahzia Sikander: Havah...To Breathe, Air, Life," Madison Square Park Conservancy, accessed March 11, 2024, https://madisonsquarepark.org/art/exhibitions/shahzia-sikander-havah-to-breathe-air-life/.

University of Pennsylvania Almanac, "New Simone Leigh Sculpture at 34th and Walnut Street Entrance to Penn's Campus," almanac.upenn.edu, October 17, 2020, https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/new-simone-leigh-sculpture-at-34th-and-walnut-street-entrance-to-penns-campus.