Redemption Song Sculpture

Artist Laura Facey Cooper reveals the inspiration and process that created the signature sculpture for Emancipation Park.

Even though, nine generations ago, one of my forebears was freed from slavery, it is only recently that I myself have experienced the inner freedom which gives life and meaning to the words first used by Marcus Garvey, then Bob Marley - "none but ourselves can free our mind". It was the experience of this message that helped me create the sculpture, Redemption Song'.

My piece is not about ropes, chains or torture; I have gone beyond that. I wanted to create a sculpture that communicates transcendence, reverence, strength and unity through our procreators - man and woman - all of which comes when the mind is free. To understand freedom, each of us must take a journey within ourselves and make a connection with the divine. Stand outside, tip your head to the sun and wind, close your eyes and feel the power within! It is all there; you need nothing more. Once you make that connection then the healing can begin. It is an individual experience and as each is healed so all are healed; everything is connected.

The water is an important part of the monument. It is refreshing, purifying and symbolically washes away the pain and suffering of the past. At the top of the dome is a pool from which water overflows, falling to the pavement then vanishing into a cave-like area hidden underground, creating the sound of water in a cavern. You can walk up to the dome, get your toes wet and you can touch the water with your hand.

It took a month to create the concept and model for the monument and five months to carve the larger-than-life-size figures from dense Styrofoam. The figures are over three metres high. For moulding and preparation for casting, the foam sculptures were cut into sixty-nine pieces. They were cast in bronze and rejoined. In all, over one hundred persons - engineers, artisans and many others - were involved in the production of this monument.

It is my hope that our Jamaican people will be moved by Redemption Song.

source: the Jamaica Information Service (JIS)

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