Designed by the artwork collective For Freedoms, based by artists Eric Gottesman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Michelle Woo in 2016, the billboard art work reproduces civil rights photographer Spider Martin’s historic 1965 {photograph} “Two Minute Warning.” Martin captured the second earlier than state troopers charged towards civil rights leaders Hosea Williams and John Lewis on Bloody Sunday, when a police mob attacked a whole bunch of marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to advocate for voting rights. Months later, Congress handed the Voting Rights Act, which mandated the enforcement of the fifteenth Modification proper to vote and outlawed voting discrimination practices.
In a press release posted on X, Mayor Reed cited the “politicized” nature of For Freedoms’s design in addition to the must be cautious about imagery of Bloody Sunday’s “pivotal” legacy within the civil rights motion as causes for requesting the picture’s elimination from the billboard “without delay.”
“We must be extremely mindful of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they risk being perceived as politically charged,” wrote Reed, a Democrat who grew to become Montgomery’s first Black mayor in 2019. “Our history deserves to be treated with the utmost respect and care, ensuring it unites rather than divides us as a community.”
The precise location of the For Freedoms billboard art work in Montgomery is unclear and couldn’t be confirmed by the mayor’s workplace or the collective. When reached by Hyperallergic, Reed mentioned that the work was a part of a brief public artwork set up funded and contracted by the Metropolis. He wrote on X that the Montgomery Museum of Wonderful Arts (MMFA) had bought the billboard.
The billboard integrated Spider Martin’s 1965 {photograph} “Two Minute Warning” (picture courtesy Spider Martin/Briscoe Middle for American Historical past)
Tracy Martin, the daughter of Spider Martin, who handed away in 2003, advised Hyperallergic she gave For Freedoms permission to make use of her father’s {photograph} as a part of an ongoing collaboration with Thomas, one of many group’s co-founders.
“I’m not in agreement with taking the For Freedoms boards down,” Martin mentioned, calling Reed’s directive a “violation of freedom of speech.”
“These boards ask the question: When was America great?” Martin continued. “The MAGA slogan has been clear for many years, and as far as we know, the person who coined it doesn’t think America is great now but rather that it was great during some other time in the past.”
In response to Hyperallergic‘s request for remark, For Freedoms Co-executive Director Woo mentioned that the group “understand[s] the pressures that cultural institutions are under right now.”
“In this highly politicized moment, we remain committed to reflecting on other moments in our shared history that help us make sense of our present,” Woo mentioned.
For Freedoms first debuted its Spider Martin billboard in 2016 in Pearl, Mississippi, the place it additionally prompted elimination calls from the city’s mayor and then-Governor Phil Bryant. The Republican politician decried the billboard as “racist,” based on the collective’s 2024 monograph. The group has put in over 500 billboards since its launch.
“We deeply respect the legacy of the Selma to Montgomery March, the impact of Bloody Sunday, and the work of photographers like Spider Martin in capturing that history,” Reed mentioned in his assertion to Hyperallergic. “The City remains committed to preserving and uplifting this history in ways that are inclusive, educational, and reflective of the community’s collective memory.”