Sculptures in Brooklyn

This was a very interesting outing to say the least. Seeing the different sculptures in the area and comparing their meanings was a thought provoking exercise, as not only were we thinking about the meanings of the statues themselves, we were taking into consideration the different effects they had on the people in the area as well. Understanding who Henry Ward Beecher was not only simple as just looking at the statue as he has a history in the area. Learning about the differences between the two depictions of him raised questions for me such as where the idea of his auctions came from and how he went about convincing people to support them. The same way that any person would feel objectified being "bought," I would imagine the people in his congregation at the time having that empathy for the enslaved. The Biggie sculpture and the Unity sculpture aren't related to each other, but they have significant meaning as they are both attached to the community surrounding them. Looking at the Unity sculpture was interesting because the origin and original meaning was different from what I initially thought. In the beginning, I thought the finger was trying to show viewers something above. But given the context, I changed my thinking towards the art as the artist wanted the viewer to go along their own path of thinking as he view his work as something that shouldn't just give one a single message which I found pretty interesting. Applying this kind of thinking to all kinds of art around me ever since that trip has helped me absorb much more from art than I have before.