CBH Talk | Of Manacles and Monuments - Act 3: Our National Healing and the Role of Art

Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds is a public artwork by Fred Wilson, commissioned by More Art and currently on view in Columbus Park, Downtown Brooklyn. Wilson’s first ever large-scale public artwork, it features a 10-foot-tall sculpture composed of layers of decorative ironwork and statues of Siibele/Senufo “rhythm pounder” figures. The ornamental gates and fences act as a metaphor for security and insecurity and graphically reference mass incarceration. The title of the work borrows from William Blake’s concept of “Mind Forg’d Manacles”—self-created barriers to personal and societal growth and freedom, built by fear, division, and perceptions of difference. Located just a few short blocks from the Center for Brooklyn History, program attendees are encouraged to visit the artwork. 

May 5, 2023