The American artist Janet Echelman has installed a woven sculpture made of blue fibers on a site with symbolic significance for the claims of the “Black Lives Matter” movement in Florida.

During her research, she learned that this park was an important site for the civil rights movement, which began in the 1950s as a space where local citizens protested against segregation. These protests led to the 1957 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed people of all cultural backgrounds to use the municipal beach and swimming pool, which had previously been reserved for whites.

Bending Arc is a permanent structure suspended above a grassy park overlooking the Pier District in St. Petersburg, Florida. With these bluish colors the artist reproduces a large beach umbrella that was intended to symbolize this historic 1957 decree.

According to the artist, this work is a way to celebrate all those who fought for equality in the public space and who opened the way to more freedom and democracy in the United States.

Photos: Raul Quintana