Changing Community Identity Through Public Art: A Portrayal of the Largest Judicial Mass Execution in American History

"Though traditional art has been strong on showcasing aesthetics to imbue pleasantries, modern public art has been breaking trends to push citizens beyond the pleasure of seeing beauty. Contemporary public sculpture, in particular, has been the impetus of provoking questions about community standards, identity, and race relations. A phenomenon involving 'Scaffold', a sculpture by artist Same Durant, became the focal point of contention within Minneapolis, Minnesota recently. With intentions to better understand the power public sculpture has to disrupt community, I [discuss] this controversy touching on racial politics, identity, culture, history and public art." -Cynthia Pope

This book was written and presented as a dissertation at Texas Tech University with the title, "Scaffold on Trial: A Case Study of Community Identity Inspired by a Public Sculpture."