Olympia City Council buys Percival Plinth Project’s winning sculpture

Olympia is expanding its public art collection with the purchase of Aisha Harrison’s work, “Woman with Graves at Her Back,” the winner of the 2021 Percival Plinth People’s Choice Award.

Harrison is a pottery artist who created the bronze sculpture, which she says depicts an ancestor who survived the middle passage and was forced into slavery.

“This ancestor witnessed many tragic and heroic things and survived them,” Harrison wrote in an Instagram post about the sculpture. “Her bravery and will to live is part of why I’m here today.”

Harrison wanted to give her ancestor a home that honored their memory in the place where four generations of her descendants have come to call home: the Pacific Northwest.

Angel Nava, Olympia’s Arts Program Specialist with the Parks, Arts and Recreation Department, said this is the first time the winning sculpture was designed with the plinths and surrounding scenery in mind. The woman sits on the plinth, her legs spread and bent over the corners of the block, looking out over the Puget Sound, towards the Olympic Mountains.

Harrison told The Olympian she had a specific plinth in mind for the statue. To figure out how she would pose the sculpture, Harrison sat on the plinth until she figured out what felt right. She also positioned her ancestor close to the boardwalk’s railing so if anyone wants to see her face they would need to get right up next to it, which she says creates an immersive experience.

The sculpture itself depicts a woman with an exposed rib cage and an hollow cavity below. Harrison said that she put moss in the cavity with the idea that she is alive. She is aware that her ancestor is dead, “but a representation of her — I also wanted that to have life.”

Harrison said people have sprayed water on the moss and have added flowers to the statue. She even has a list of people who will tend to the figure, taking care of the moss inside and the flowers folks lay around it.

“I think one of the things that really resonated with people is the timing,” Nava said. “So many people have experienced loss in the last year. … I think this piece speaks to a kind of hope in the midst of hardship.”

Harrison carved the sculpture out of clay first and then had it cast in bronze — which the community helped make happen by donating nearly $20,000 to her GoFundMe campaign earlier this year.

Harrison’s was one of 14 sculptures that were part of this year’s Percival Plinth Project. The project gives a platform to local artists to display their works along Olympia’s boardwalk for a year. The project also allows people to vote for their favorite, which is then purchased by the city.

“Woman with Graves at Her Back” received 214 votes out of the 345 that citizens cast this year. The runners up were “Bough and Bend” by Jennifer Kapnek (51 votes) and “Memories” by Heron Shawn Johnson (30 votes).

On Tuesday, Olympia’s City Council members authorized $10,000 from the Municipal Art Fund to buy “Woman with Graves at Her Back.” The city usually puts the winner in front of City Hall, but Harrison said she prefers her ancestor where she is.

This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.