"MELVIN EDWARDS: Brighter Days"

Brighter Days is a series of six sculptures by Melvin Edwards created from 1970 to 1996 and one in 2020—each one incorporates some form of chain. Sitting in City Hall Park, historical associations are made to slavery and violence. City Park Hall was once the site of the African Burial Ground, a colonial-era cemetery for enslaved and freed individuals of African descent. More recently it became a geographic center of Black Lives Matter protests with the occupation of City Hall. Brighter Days affirms Edwards' optimistic view of our shared future.