FUTURE-FOCUSED

A small child holding an “I Matter” sign and a historical plaque of the 1898 Wilmington massacre and coup d’etat are a few images artist Dare Coulter used in a commemorative artwork to celebrate resilience and highlight the core belief that Black lives matter.

The artwork, called “Because It’s Time,” was created to serve as a conduit for social activism and to spark conversations about race, identity, the Black experience and Wilmington’s history of racial violence, said Fidias Reyes, director of arts engagement in the UNCW Office of the Arts. The work was unveiled during a ceremony on June 18, 2021, by the Commons pond east of the amphitheater near Fisher University Union. The project is a collaboration between the Office of the Arts, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office of Community Engagement and Applied Learning. It is a component of the Office of the Arts’ “Artivism For Social Change” initiative, a collaborative series of arts events and programs. Coulter, an award-winning sculptor, artist and illustrator, was commissioned to create the piece; the concept was developed with student and community input. Coulter used symbolic images of the Gullah Geechee culture, recent protests and other references to the 1898 Wilmington massacre. Fabricated by Lite Brite Neon in New York, the artwork stands 13 feet tall and its four-foot base includes an inscription from UNCW’s Upperman African American Cultural Center director Sean Palmer.

– V.J.