Will Brown Project Act I 2006
White chalk
While artist-in-residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art--Downtown-Omaha, Nebraska

Public Art Network 2007 national recognition as one of the most innovative public art projects. On September 28 th of 2006 was the 87 th anniversary of the 1919 Omaha Race Riot resulting in the hanging, shooting, dragging and burning of William Brown. Act I was a public piece in which I used hundreds of white chalk pieces to write in a single continuous line an account that was written about the course of events that led to the lynching of Will Brown. What started out as a few dozen high school boys in the early afternoon grew to a mob of 20,000 by night. The text was started in front of what is still today the courthouse where the events took place at exactly 2pm when the young men gathered. My journey took approximately 7 hours to complete moving on my hands and knees nearly a mile in length. I wrapped the text around the court house, eventually winding my way through the downtown streets of Omaha to the location where an infamous picture was taken of Will Brown’s body set a blaze by a crowd of white individuals. My goal was to subtly confront pedestrians with the simple narrative of the event, which I was writing in the exact location of where it happened 87 year ago to the day. It was in some respects a paradox to the Freedom Trail. What we learn about our past allows us to reflect on the present and future. Much like the chalk the public’s memory may fade over time or the message may carry forward.