PHILADELPHIA — The city of Philadelphia wants people to help shape the theme of a permanent Harriet Tubman statue by responding to a public input survey by July 13. But a number of Black artists and historians are criticizing the process as being unfair and insulting.
That is because the commission was awarded to Wesley Wofford, the sculptor who designed the traveling statue "Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom," that stood outside City Hall earlier this year, without seeking drawings or proposals from other artists.
“We feel cheated that we can’t get a chance to see what renditions other artists can offer us,” Maisha Sullivan-Ongoza of the Sankofa Artisans Guild, told city public art officials at a June 15 virtual public meeting.
