Photos by Gabby Jones
Fanny Allié
Bella Abzug Park
2022-2023
The colorful sculptures comprising Shadows depict ten workers who maintain the park for the benefit of the public, through their outlines. To create the sculptures, Allié spent time with each person and asked them to pose in a manner that reflected themselves.She captured these poses on film, drew their outlines, and translated them into steel silhouettes. Each worker chose their sculpture’s color, prompted by Allié to select one that best represents them.
Shadows also includes an audio component, accessible with a QR code, in which Allié’s subjects sing songs, whistle, hum, laugh, and share stories about their work. The songs touch on life experiences, family ties, stories of immigration and passage, and relationships to the park. Voice is a powerful medium that can carry emotions and reveal a lot about a person. The workers come from wide-ranging places includingSenegal, Togo, Puerto Rico, and across the United States. And yet, they form a close team, caring for one another as well as the park—a bond Allié wishes to highlight.
Surrounded by tall buildings and concrete, Bella Abzug Park is a patch of greenery where anyone can sit, relax, and reflect. It’s a vital resource, and it wouldn’t function without the workers who clean, sweep, look after, watch, plant, dig, and trim it. The artist’s intention is to highlight the presence of 10 of these workers through their body outlines and voices, allowing visitors to get to know them and making individuals, experiences, and work that can sometimes be overlooked visible. This site-specific installation aims to trigger a connection between the workers, the public, and the park and create a multi-sensory experience around the sculptures.
Allié’s community-based public art projects explore human interrelationships, collectiveness, and connection to places we inhabit daily.
Shadows is commissioned and presented by the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance, and curated/produced by Debra Simon Art Consulting.
Press
AI-AP: “The DART Board 11.09.22”
Broadway World: “SHADOWS, Fanny Allié's Site-Specific Sculptural Installation, to Open at Bella Abzug Park in November”
Chelsea Community News: ‘Shadows’ Sculptures Plant New Sights & Sounds in Bella Abzug Park
GothamToGo Arts and Culture: “Artist Fanny Allié to Unveil 10 New Sculptures in Bella Abzug Park, Hudson Yards”
TimeOut: “Shadows by Fanny Allié”
TimeOut: “The best outdoor art in NYC this winter”
Untapped Cities: “16 Best Public Art Installations in NYC December 2022”
W42ST: “Out of the Shadows… Artist Turns a Spotlight on the People Who Keep Bella Abzug Park Beautiful”