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Sculptor Ivor Thom completes 1823 monument
Guyanese sculptor Ivor Thom has completed work on the 1823 rebellion monument.
Guyanese sculptor Ivor Thom
During a media briefing yesterday, Thom revealed that he has finished the bronze structure, even as works are ongoing at the actual site where the monument will be erected – a plot of land on Carifesta Avenue, east of GT&T’s Earth Station.
According to Thom, actual work on the monument began in December 2011 and was completed in August 2012. The date for its official unveiling is to be released. However works are ongoing on the site where the monument will be mounted.
Thom said that a committee was established by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport and the site was chosen as well as the design for the monument. He added that there were several site proposals for the monument as was advertised in sections of the media.
Some of those suggestions included: Parade Ground; Success, East Coast Demerara; Victoria Law Courts; La Bonne Intention; Chateau Margot; Paradise; Melanie; Ann’s Grove; Bachelor’s Adventure and Mahaica.
There were also some criteria, he pointed out, which the committee took into consideration before the current site was selected, such as physical and emotional connection to the rebellion, its being easily accessible to the wider public and available parking.
In the meantime, construction work on the 1823 Monument site is ongoing at the aforementioned location. This is despite calls by opposition parties as well as a number of organizations to have the monument erected at the Parade Ground, opposite the Promenade Gardens
Several concerned citizens and groups are arguing that slaves were killed and grotesquely displayed at Parade Ground, and using that location would be a significant mark of respect. They also claim that a sod turning ceremony for the construction of the monument was held there on August1, 2000.
Thom said his research proves that there was never any sod turning ceremony for the site.
Among the groups in opposition of the monument being erected on Carifesta Avenue are the All African Guyanese Council, the African Cultural and Development Association, the Pan-African Movement (Guyana branch), the African Welfare Council, the Guyana United Apostolic Mystical Council, the Forum for The Temples of Ka’Ma’atic Spirituality, the Division of History at the University of Guyana, the Ghana Day Committee, The Committee For The Promotion Of The Decade Of The People Of African Descent, the Guyana Trades Union Congress, the Independence Group, the Kingdom of Descendants of Africans and the People’s Parliament.
However, after considering accessibility, visibility and land space, Culture Minister Dr. Frank Anthony said it was decided that the monument would be erected at Carifesta Avenue.
Construction work is being carried out at the Carifesta Avenue location.
The Minister had stated that if the monument is erected at Parade Ground, it would affect the playfield and basketball court there. He explained that while thousands of slaves did take part in the rebellion, less than 30 were actually executed at the ground. Instead, the slaves were killed in various places along the East Coast of Demerara, while their bodies were moved from plantation to plantation to be displayed.
He had also pointed out that the location selected, near the seawall, is a solid link to the East Coast locations, since all persons using the corridor would view it during their journey.
It was explained that in 2011, which was the International Year of Persons of African Descent, several announcements and advertisements were made nationally, calling for responses and suggestions in relation to the monument and its possible location. But there was reportedly no response. Subsequently, the ministry went ahead, and after visiting all the locations where incidents took place and slaves were killed during the revolt, the decision was finally taken to place it at the seawall site.
The 1823 Monument was sculpted by Thom after he had won an open competition organized by the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry.
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