About a week ago I met up with George Long over at The Whitespace. That space has to be the coziest most charming gallery in town. We were planning some ultra high art revolutionary backyard Sunday revival event. That’s when Director /Owner Susan Bridges began to ask me of my origins. Proudly I said Florence, Alabama!!! Funny thing is she was up on my town like she grew up there. We shared knowledge of mutual creative people in the area and local lore. She even told me of recent things I didn’t know. I was ultra surprised to find out she knew of The Wall. I had almost forgotten about it myself. George was in shock just as much as I was at her knowledge of the area. He was like; did you come from this nutty place that breeds this sorta weird creative spirit? I was like yeah it’s the Indian spirits and once you realize that, they open you up to the possibilities of the land and the world to whatever you want to do. That is just my philosophy.
Anyways, The Wall is a man made wall built by this guy Tom Hendrix. He has been working on it for 27 years. It’s a monument to his great-great-grandmamma. She was a Euchee Indian who walked for four years from Oklahoma back to Bama after they forced the Indians to leave. This is the trail of tears. She missed the area so much that she just took off walking home. The story was told to me, that she toted this rock there and back. It was a stone that reminded her of home. This is stone that sparked Tom's creativity. The wall is easily comparable to Andy Goldsworthy work, minus the art criticisms. I feel it will hold up to those criticisms. It is pure and simple why he is doing this. His effort is a great feat of one man's creativity. You can feel the truth. Thing that has always weirded me out about the wall is the first section of rocks that look like faces. Are they the faces of ancetors? I think so. Are they man made? I think not. Do they protect the entrance and ward off evil spirits? I think so. At The Wall, there are random rocks that people from all over the world have placed on the wall as their contribution to this great effort. They are special rocks to them, I’m guessing. You should bring a rock if you ever go to Florence and visit The Wall.
As much as I like Atlanta, sometimes I pack my rocks and get back to the land that I love.
Anyways, The Wall is a man made wall built by this guy Tom Hendrix. He has been working on it for 27 years. It’s a monument to his great-great-grandmamma. She was a Euchee Indian who walked for four years from Oklahoma back to Bama after they forced the Indians to leave. This is the trail of tears. She missed the area so much that she just took off walking home. The story was told to me, that she toted this rock there and back. It was a stone that reminded her of home. This is stone that sparked Tom's creativity. The wall is easily comparable to Andy Goldsworthy work, minus the art criticisms. I feel it will hold up to those criticisms. It is pure and simple why he is doing this. His effort is a great feat of one man's creativity. You can feel the truth. Thing that has always weirded me out about the wall is the first section of rocks that look like faces. Are they the faces of ancetors? I think so. Are they man made? I think not. Do they protect the entrance and ward off evil spirits? I think so. At The Wall, there are random rocks that people from all over the world have placed on the wall as their contribution to this great effort. They are special rocks to them, I’m guessing. You should bring a rock if you ever go to Florence and visit The Wall.
As much as I like Atlanta, sometimes I pack my rocks and get back to the land that I love.
shoal culture
NY Times
1 comment:
The wall is the largest structure that's a tribute to a woman in the US.
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