Wednesday, July 14, 2004

I was actually racing down the street to get to the ferry on time. It was San Francisco, the day was sunny, and we were going to Sausalito, more for the joy of the ferry ride than the experience of the town (on foot) itself. But I had to stop, ignoring David’s tugging, and snap a coupla shots of a mass of nude bronze with rippling muscles. It was a monument to the mechanics who built the west. A 1901 monster made by Douglas Tilden, the deaf sculptor who had a lot of stuff installed around the city. It had all the energy of the early city, I thought, and I began to hunt stories of other statues of workers. The Soviet Union, of course, was big on workers’ statues. How many pictures has anyone seen of huge, brawny sledge hammer wielding comrades? One of the most famous, the 1937 huge steel “Worker and Collective Farmer” piece, was once a symbol of the ideal Communist heroes. Today, they’re part of the entrance to a western style Mall in Moscow. One worker statue (or set of statues) that really gets me is the line of depression-era out of workers lined up on a wall in NYC, and it was in my hunt to learn more about this piece that I came across a fascinating fact. Every year in the US since 1989, there’s a Worker’s Memorial Day at the end of April to honor those who’ve lost their lives on the job either through accident, job caused illness, or fighting for the rights of workers. And with this goes a plethora of memorials and monuments dedicated to these same folk. Here’s a partial list of them: El Pasaje (Phoenix, AZ) features three figures of a working family. It faces the state capitol building, which should shake somebody’s tree- of they notice it. Columbine Massacre Monument (Lafayette, CO) commemorates the miners killed in a 1927 strike for decent wages at the mine there. It’s not an inspiring site- just a plaqye on a pole, really, but the story grips you. Fishermen’s Memorial Statue in Gloucester, MA commemorates the fishermen who die to feed the rest of us. It was commissioned as part of the city’s tricentennial, but a companion piece, a mother with babe in arms that stand waiting for their man at sea, was never placed. The Long Island Worker’s Memorial in Hauppauge, NY is a pretty simple construct- just a 19 ft wall with names inscribed, but its inscription is pretty moving. It says, “Dedicated to workers who lost their lives due to workplace injury or illness. We mourn their passing, honor their memory and commit ourselves to the struggle to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for all." 10:04:47 PM    comment []

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