Art runs through the Watson’s veins. Inspired by his father, Basil Watson has been surrounded by art all his life.
“I grew up in art,” Watson shared. “It came natural to me. I enjoyed drawing from an early age.”
Along with Basil and his dad, his two other siblings also are artists. As Watson grew older, he started to realize this was more than just a hobby; it was a passion and needed to be a part of his life forever.
A native of Jamaica, Watson grew up learning about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States by following the news and watching films of what was happening. .
“We are very close to economy and culture and tightly tied to the United States,” Watson shared. “I remember hearing and seeing films about the Civil Rights movement. We have a very close appreciation for the struggle. The main thing is that Jamaica is an independent country that is majority Black. As such it was hard for us to digest the racial and civil injustices that were taking place. We always knew of the struggles. I was in shock at what was going on.”
Years later, Watson moved to the United States in 2002 when he was 44, but Watson wasn’t the first person in his family to live in the U.S. Both of his parents lived in the United States at different times. His dad Barrington worked at Spelman College in Atlanta as an art professor in the late 1960s, which made it even more special when Watson had the opportunity to work on the Martin Luther King Jr. statue right next to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“My father was teaching at Spelman here in Atlanta when MLK was assassinated,” Watson said. “He was later commissioned by the college to do a portrait of MLK that now is in the Spelman College collection.”
More than 40 years later, Barrington’s son created a statue on Martin Luther King Jr. less than a mile from where his portrait of MLK hangs. Finally, on January 14th, 2021, the City of Atlanta shared a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. right down the street from Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The process was extensive for the selection of the artist. “The City of Atlanta sent out a public call. I applied and I was chosen as one of three finalists to develop a design for the project,” Watson explained. “I had interviews from the city. I was eventually chosen out of a total of over 80 artists.”
“I started listening to tapes of his speeches,” Watson expressed. “The recurring theme of “love” stuck out to me. This is the message that I wanted to depict.”
That’s exactly what he did. The statue features MLK holding a dove, which represents peace and love. MLK is leaning forward, which represents us walking forward towards a solution. His hand is out which represents the sharing of love. Below MLK, there are a few of his quotes around the base.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that”
“Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”
“If you cannot fly then run, if you cannot run then walk, if you cannot walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward”.
Watson worked many hours in his studio on the project. His studio stands at 14 feet tall and MLK’s statue is 12 feet tall. This required a lot of disassembling and reassembling of the work during the process. He never had the full picture of the statue on the pedestal while in the studio. It was not until the final installation when the full picture came into focus.
“It was a new sculpture when it was elevated by the 6 foot base and to see it in the space and see how it related to the other elements surrounding it, like Mercedes-Benz Stadium and church beside it. It was really awesome,” Watson said with happiness. “It was really awesome to see it in the space. MLK was such an icon to the entire community, especially to the black community. It was a great time to see it come together and accepted by the entire community.”
Most importantly, it means more to have a piece of his work right down the street from his father who showed him the love for their passion — art.
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