Abigail DeVille - Light of Freedom

Madison Square Park Conservancy

October 27, 2020–January 31st, 2021

Light of Freedom is a public sculpture realized by artist Abigail DeVille in New York’s Madison Square Park. The piece connects the visual imagery and symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, whose torch was on display in park for many years prior to its completion, with a blue flame rendered out of mannequin arms. The piece is bounded by a gilded scaffolding, referencing the constant renovations and incompleteness of the promises that the statue embodies. As Abigail writes in the catalog, “Light of Freedom aims to recalibrate lost mythologies embedded in the Statue of Liberty. The blue arms are chain-linked to one another as the flame that burns hottest. The gold scaffold protects an idea of rule by the people. A decommissioned school bell calls for the right to education as much as the right to breathe free. These symbols of liberty nesting dependent on one another swaying together in Veterans Lawn in Madison Square Park.”

We worked with Abigail to take her initial concept from sketches to fabrication ready designs, using 3D rendering to iterate several different versions of the sculpture before settling on the final design. Fabrication was done by KC Fabrication. Photographs by Andy Romer, computer renderings by Visitor Projects, and sketches courtesy of artist.