Commemorative Experience
Project Summary
This Commemorative Experience is centered on an an artistic expression in large-scale sculptural form supported by a gently intervening landscape design with immersive storytelling and interpretive content throughout. In striving to accomplish all goals set forth by the Committee, this design includes the following:
In-depth information acknowledging enslaved and exploited individuals and family legacies and recognizing the valuable contributions of those being commemorated.
Acknowledgement of the many atrocities, injustices, omissions, and blind spots in our shared past.
Encouragement of empathy while celebrating the perseverance of the individuals and descendants of those enslaved and exploited.
Description of the roles of Davidson College and the town of Davidson in the larger institution of slavery.
Acknowledgement that slavery and exploitation is made possible by stripping away identity and exploration of the ways by which identity can be reclaimed.
Recognition of Davidson’s continual search for truth and reconciliation and ways by which we all can push back against systematic injustices.
At the heart of the experience, With These Hands, by Hank Willis Thomas is centrally located between Oak Row and Elm Row. The art depicts two work-worn hands of cast bronze, their dark patina intended to reinforce the aged character of the hands and those enslaved and exploited individuals of Davidson’s history. Placement of the art establishes a refuge for gatherings that may be individual and intimate or larger, collective, and shared experiences.
Flowing through and around the art is a small plaza of dark, precast concrete pavers. With frayed edges as though fading into the lawn, the character of this plaza is informal. At approximately 3,500 sq feet, its scale is intended to support gatherings, amplify discussion, and provide a fully accessible means of engaging the art.
Through a series of small incisions into the existing landscape, the gentle, north-to-south slope of the lawn is reconciled with the near level plaza by low retaining walls of stone; some cut into the slope and others retaining earth. Throughout this design, a minimalist approach to the existing trees and surrounding campus infrastructure is the intent with tree preservation as a priority.
A new path of the same dark, concrete pavers connects the plaza to its surrounding campus and community context, flowing from the northeast corner of the site, through the plaza and to its southwestern corner. This new walkway will provide an accessible path to the art, promote more active use of this portion of the campus, and encourage frequent engagement with the art and the issues it addresses.
This design proposes two additional, supporting walkways. The first would extend eastward the already established walkway from Main Street to the front of Cunningham Theater. This will further connect the site to other parts of campus and better facilitate pre-function gatherings at the front of Cunningham Theater. The second provides a fully accessible path from along Main Street at the site’s northwest corner where there are currently a small set of steps. This path will be anchored with a small arrival plaza adjacent to the steps, utilizing the existing wall for interpretive content and acting as a welcoming outreach, inviting the broader community and passersby to engage the site, its art, and the subject matter of this design.
Loosely surrounding the art are a series of mediating elements set into the landscape. Their construction resembles that of the stone and brick foundations of Oak Row and Elm Row and include places for sitting as well as metal panels for interpretive content, each dedicated to a different portion of Davidson’s history. As though emanating from the art itself, these elements rest at varying distances from their shared focal point, all facing With These Hands and bearing witness to our history of enslavement and exploitation. Constructed primarily of stone with brick and possibly iron, it is proposed that the materials of each are exhumed from the buried remains of older buildings at Davidson similar in age and construction to Oak Row and Elm Row. Through their materiality, each becomes a reminder of the labors, sacrifice, and craft of those who were enslaved and exploited and whose hands constructed the earliest architecture of Davidson College.
The metal panels for interpretive content accompany the stone and are finished in a dark bronze patina to unify the art and landscape. They will speak of enslaved and exploited individuals, family legacies, Davidson’s role in the institution of slavery, atrocities, omissions, and more. Some will be engraved with historical quotes and others will be a call to action for pushing back against injustices. Davidson's history is a complex story that will continue to unfold and therefore the design of the panels will allow them to be removed, inscribed, and reinstalled in an efficient and timely manner.
Because no one panel can convey the full story, each will include a QR code directing those who wish to know more to a virtual educational experience. Nearest the art, the few individuals whose names and stories we know will be commemorated. Alongside each will be a full description of what we know of their contributions to Davidson. Additional panels will be left intentionally blank, awaiting the discovery of more information from Davidson’s history.
Altogether, these mediating elements of stone and metal are arranged in such a way that they are not just components of a singular destination. Instead, they are a collection of threshold experiences, reaching out into the surrounding campus and townscape and inviting students, visitors, and townspeople to engage with the content of this Commemorative Site. Nearest the art and plaza, their scale is larger and consistent with community and collective gatherings. Farthest from the art and plaza, their scale is more intimate to encourage individual reflection. Sometimes they are paired to facilitate group gatherings set back from, but still focused on the art. The purpose of this arrangement is to establish a multi-layered threshold experience, allowing all who come to engage the content of this commemorative experience from different perspectives, depths of knowledge, and understanding, making it always accessible to the broadest audience possible.
Beyond the scope of this project but anticipated as a complementary effort is the repurposing of Oak Row and Elm Row as centers for further exploration of our history of slavery, exploitation, and institutional biases that perpetuate injustice and continue to plague our society. Oak Row may be well suited to focus on continued discovery of the history of those enslaved and exploited in Davidson College and the town of Davidson, the continued injustices from our original sin of slavery, and other related historic evidence of our past. Closest to Main Street, it can symbolize the long-term commitment of the College to work with the community toward understanding and reconciliation. Elm Row may be well suited to focus on establishing a more equitable, inclusive, and socially sustainable future for us all. Davidson’s leadership in commitment to these values can be exemplified in an institution of this nature.
Together with the Commemoration Experience of this proposal, we imagine Oak and Elm as representing our ‘past’ and our ‘future’ while our ‘today’ is in between, anchored by With These Hands and inviting us all to begin our journey of commemoration and reconciliation.