True North

True North: Station Pass (work in progress)

Oil Based Lumber & Soil

15’ x 30’ x 60’, 2022

One hundred million Africans were abducted over the four hundred years of the transatlantic slave trade. Less than thirty million survived the journey. One hundred thousand Africans escaped via the Underground Railroad. “True North: Station Pass” connects us to these stark facts with a physical reminder, an experience, in a crawl space towards freedom.

“True North: Station Pass” is the first built structure in the series “True North”. These permanent works in our landscape provide an immersive leap into the point of view of the African. The observer, facing the night sky or perpetual confinement, is transformed from passive to active participant, searching for freedom, with the aid of nature’s celestial map from south to north.

“True North: Station Pass” is the largest permanent monument to the Underground Railroad in North America. It is the only monument to the legacy African Self Liberation that is experience based.

Next spring, June 2024, we’ll refine the work by including the Little Dipper star system, which includes Polaris (The North Star), as a natural light source, into the ceiling of the work and creating a seating/viewing area on the top of the work.

Collaborators / Station Agents:

Brandon Chambers: @brandon_art_chambers

Bruna Dalessandro: @bruna_dalessandro

Claudette Montgomery: @claudette_lm

Eli Brown: @eli.m.brown

Ellina Kevorkian: @ellinakevorkianstudio

Emma Wood: @mycophile.e.art

Franconia Sculpture Park: @franconiamn

Ginger Porcella: @prudentaggression

Jeremy Vitalis

Michael Legan: @michael_legan

Tim M: @m_a_n_a_l_o_t