"With Love, For Grief" Sculpture Dedication

The dedication of With Love, For Grief on February 24, 2024 included a short artist talk by artist Elizabeth M. Webb about the conceptualization of the sculpture and the process of creation (see Columns Project). Descendant Peter Datcher spoke about the importance to the Black Wallace descendants of honoring their ancestors and descendant Henry Smith gave a pointed presentation about Florida’s efforts to whitewash the horrors of enslavement. Poet Salaam Green who had envisioned and , with Webb, carried out healing conversations with the descendants during the community-based project read her poem For Grief, memorializing Grief Wallace who was enslaved on the plantation. She then poured water with dissolvable papers on which audience members had written notes to the enslaved into the ground on each column as a libation. Thanks to the Alabama State Council on the Arts for their funding for this project.