About the Art: This mixed media sculpture, presented in carved maple wood embellished with polymer clay, chronicles the extraordinary life of civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis. The meticulously painted wooden canvas traces Lewis’s journey from his humble beginnings in Troy, Alabama—where as a child he would preach to chickens—to becoming one of America’s most visionary political leaders.
The piece follows Lewis’s evolution: overcoming a speech impediment, participating in the Nashville sit-ins, delivering a powerful address as the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, and his historic crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma where he faced brutal violence. The artwork culminates with a poignant representation of his final journey—pallbearers in top hats carrying him across the same bridge, with rose petals symbolizing both the blood shed during the original march and the triumphant completion of his lifelong mission for justice.
Through this reverent portrayal, the artist captures not merely historical moments but the essence of Lewis’s philosophy of “good trouble”—the necessary disruption required to bend the arc of history toward justice.
Original: A one of a kind piece of art.