A new public sculpture, “Our Single Garment of Destiny,” was uncovered and dedicated in Downtown’s Washington Gladden Social Justice Park on Monday, January 18, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Portland artists Julian and Adriana Voss-Andreae created the piece. Their work was chosen through a 2020 national solicitation for public artwork undertaken by the board of the park, named for the Rev. Dr. Washington Gladden, former pastor of First Congregational Church of Columbus, which hosts and sits adjacent to it.
An art committee composed of Melanie Corn, Loann Crane, Nannette Maciejunes, Barbara Nicholson, Mary Anne Orcutt and Becky Taft oversaw the selection process and recommended the winning design.
The creation of the sculpture was funded by donations from Crane and family as well as the Crane Group.
The sculptor team drew inspiration from Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” published in 1963:
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
When the artwork is viewed from a particular angle, the figures “disappear,” which the art committee felt also represented individuals who face great challenges and obstacles who seem to be “invisible to society, whether by society’s neglect or intention.”
For more information, visit socialjusticepark.org.