Six Artists Vie to Design Billie Holiday Monument in New York

Eleanora Fagan left Baltimore for New York City in the late 1920s and later became Billie Holiday, recording jazz with major musicians. Queens heard her early voice and remained an on-and-off home in the 1950s. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs released proposals from six finalists for a public monument outside the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. The public can review and comment through the end of May, and a selection panel will choose a final design later in the year. The finalists were selected after an open call and participated in a site visit and discussions with Holiday scholars and family members. Proposed designs include mid-performance imagery, a profile carving with a gold underside, a minimalist vessel silhouette, and other sculptural concepts.

"Now, the borough of Queens, which heard Holiday's haunting voice early on and became her on-and-off home in the 1950s, is commissioning a public monument to the singer outside the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. On May 19, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs released the proposals of its six finalists and invited the public to review and comment on the designs. The feedback period will run through the end of May, with the selection panel set to choose its final design later in the year."

"The finalists are La Vaughn Belle, Nikesha Breeze, Nekisha Durrett, Tanda Francis, Thomas J. Price, and Tavares Strachan. After responding to an open call put out in late 2025, all six finalists participated in a site visit as well as discussions with Holiday scholars and family members. Breeze's proposal offers an image of Holiday mid-performance, her hands clasped to her chest, with white marble gardenias in her hair. Its base bears the engraving, "Sing the Truth.""

"Durrett's Bending the Note, meanwhile, is a white marble carving based on the singer's profile, which glides upward revealing to reveal a gold underside. A rendering of Holiday's beloved pooch Pepe sits at the base of the statue, gazing upward. Strachan, who represented Bahamas at the 55th Venice Biennale and previously cast a monumental sculpture critiquing colonialism outside London's Royal Academy, is taking a minimalist approach. His proposal offers Holiday's silhouette in the form of a white vessel, one the artist calls a "container for memory.""

"Price, a British sculptor whose work recently inaugurated V&A East, presents two sleek bronze beans resting against one another on a plinth. Drawing off a photograph of Holiday cuddl"

Read at Artnet News