God bless the artist who does not give up.
Or so Billie Holiday the Baltimore-born jazz legend might have sang as a refrain from her most famous song ? “God Bless the Child” ? to the acclaimed sculptor James Earl Reid. That?s because Reid?s quest to add panels he said were excluded from the statue of Holiday he designed nearly 25 years ago, is more about her legacy, than his.
“She was not just a great jazz singer, she was a socially relevant as well, and that needs to be shown so that people understand.”
Reid has tried to add panels from his original design depicting two of Holiday?s most famous songs ? “Strange Fruit” and “God Bless the Child” ? since they were excluded by city officials who worried that they were too controversial.
“They censored me, I didn?t know until I saw the hole in the ground” he said of panels which, along with a crow, were supposed to sit at the base of the bronze statue that overlooks a grassy field in west Baltimore.
“It wasn?t right, it is still painful,” he said.
The panels show an infant black child attached to an umbilical cord, the other depicts a lynching, Both Reid said, represent the beauty and pain of Holiday?s work.
“An artists to be truly meaningful, has to express both beauty and suffering, and she did both with those songs,” he said.
Despite his best efforts, the city has not been receptive to adding the panels to the base of the statue ? until now.
“We reached a turning point,” he said.
With help of City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Reid?s attorney, E.Scott Johnson, the city has worked out a deal to fund the extra work. The money, nearly $76,000, will be used to restore both panels to the base of the statue.
“The completion of the statue will give Billy Holiday social and historic context,” Rawlings-Blake said. “We owe it to Lady Day? and the many brilliant performers and artists to follow to ensure that her statue reflects the artist’s authentic vision.”
And for now the Maryland Institute graduate who created well-known works such as Third World America, a sculptural tribute to the homeless, said he has some peace of mind knowing his work will be complete.
“I?ve been stifled, I just wanted to capture her spirit,” he said.
