Signature City Winter 2023

DIAN

Written and photographed by David L. Williams, II

The sculpture Dian was created in 1987 by local and renowned sculpture artist John Raimondi, an American sculptor best known as a creator of monumental public sculptures with works throughout the United States and several countries in Europe. This 26-foot sculpture stands at 4400 PGA Blvd, between Embassy Suites and Wells Fargo.

Dian was named and inspired by the late conservationist and primatologist Dian Fossey. In the late 1970s, Raimondi developed a strong interest in issues concerning the environment, as well as the hardships related to endangered species. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Raimondi’s work took on a new artistic direction that showed his passion for the significance and history concerning the fragility of our planet.

For over 20 years, Dian Fossey conducted extensive studies of mountain gorilla groups in the mountains of Rwanda. She also supported conservation efforts and actively opposed tourism and poaching in wildlife habitats. Her notoriety became more widespread as she pushed to advocate for the acknowledgement that gorillas are sapient beings.

Dian is located at Admiralty II Building- 4400 PGA Boulevard.

During her time in Rwanda, her research ultimately helped to reduce the diminishing population of mountain gorillas. However, this did not come without a myriad of adversaries with opposing views. On December 26, 1985, Fossey was murdered inside of her cabin by an assailant whose identity has yet to be discovered but was a poacher. After her death and the reading of her renowned book Gorillas in the Mist, Raimondi designed the sculpture Dian to honor her life.

By the mid-1980s, Raimondi already created several monuments in different parts of the world; however, Dian was the first piece he made using high-reflecting stainless steel. The purpose of this was for the viewer to see their own reflection while looking at the sculpture. Raimondi’s intention was to inspire the viewer to examine their own relationship with the world we live in and recognize that it is our responsibility to protect it before it’s too late.

As Fossey wrote in the last entry of her diary, “When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.”