[Many thanks to Veerle Poupeye for bringing this item to our attention via
Critical.Caribbean.Art.] Gail O’Neill features Basil Watson in
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For sculptor Basil Barrington Watson, the opportunity to create a 12-foot-tall bronze monument to mark the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s long fight for civil rights was more than a simple commission. It also was about family legacy.
His father, painter Barrington Watson, was a visiting professor at Spelman College in 1970 when the school asked that he paint a portrait of King. “When I submitted my proposal and it was accepted, it was like a continuation of my father’s legacy,” says Watson. “I considered it a great honor for my family and our history.” [. . .] The first of seven installations commissioned to honor the legacy and global influence of the civil rights leader, Hope Moving Forward was the winning sculpture proposal of a selection committee made up of representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Cu