04 Jun More Art Coming to The Golden Blocks!
Phase 2 Artists Selected.
The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, Greater Augusta Arts Council, and City of Augusta Housing and Community Development were proud to announce the selection of two artistic concepts that will be funded for the next Phase of the Golden Blocks Project. The selected artists: Xavier O. Jones, W. Travis “Brotha Trav” Wright, and Hasani Sahlehe will work with historians at the Laney Museum to create pieces in 2021 that tell the story of education in the historical Golden Blocks area.
Visual artist Xavier O. Jones and poet W. Travis “Brotha Trav” Wright are teaming up to create a mural, titled “Ember of HOPE” and a poetry manuscript with spoken word that will be placed in the digital walking tour to accompany the mural. Visual artist Hasani Sahlehe will select images related to the Golden Blocks’ educational legacy from Museum archives He has commissioned photographer C. Rose Smith to capture images of current students, educators, and schools in the Golden Blocks area. Selected photographs from both historic and contemporary sources will be printed onto outdoor vinyl and transformed into a series of photo murals.
Initiated in 2018, the Golden Blocks Project is a creative placemaking program that unites the vision and skills of local artists with the historical knowledge housed within the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History to bring the stories of Augusta’s historically Black, Laney Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods colloquially known as the “Golden Blocks” out into public spaces. The stories of local black history told through public art are easily accessible to everyone and bring attention to the cultural wealth of the Golden Blocks for longtime residents.