E Pluribus Unum is a public artwork proposed by American artist Fred Wilson to be located along the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets, near the City-County Building in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.
Funded solely by private donations and fundraising by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), the sculpture was scheduled to be unveiled on September 22, 2011, the 149th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's initial reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to members of his Cabinet. However, due to an increase of public opposition to the project beginning in September 2010, the future of the statue was discussed in a series of community meetings in 2011. On December 13, 2011 the Central Indiana Community Foundation announced that the project would be temporarily canceled.
Design
E Pluribus Unum, named after the Latin phrase meaning "From many, one," was to be a re-contextualized reproduction of the nameless, semi-nude African American male sculpture seated at the base of the west facade of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in downtown Indianapolis. Wilson submitted only one entry to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail committee and the design proposal of E Pluribus Unum was accepted without modification.
The replica of the African American figure was to be 10 x 12 ft. and created in Indiana limestone. The figure would have remained seated but tilted forward in an upright position. Additionally, Wilson planned to substitute a flag of his own design for the pair of broken manacles lifted upward in the right hand of the formerly enslaved figure. The multicolored flag was a composite of African flags and the African diaspora and was inspired by the designs of African quilts and African fabric. The positioning of the flagpole was inspired by the Marine Corps War Memorial, also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial, in Washington, D.C.
Once isolated from the Soldiers' and Soldiers' Monument, the sculpture was intended to sit atop a granite, three-tier pedestal that would have stood six feet above the ground. This base was designed to complement the materials and design present in the City-County Building's civic plaza as well as provide seating for visitors. At night, a series of lights were to illuminate the sculpture.
Like his previous installations, E Pluribus Unum focused attention on the institutional framing of cultural difference. As an artist, Wilson creates shifts in meaning by manipulating the context of existing objects rather than physically altering the objects themselves.
Location
The sculpture was planned to be located on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets, near the City-County Building. The site was selected by Wilson for its visibility from all angles on the Cultural Trail and its lack of a visual point of interest. Some opponents of the artwork's location are concerned about the statue's close proximity to the Marion County Jail, pointing to current racial disparities in mass incarceration in the United States.
Wilson hopes that the proximity of the proposed location for the artwork to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument will encourage visitors to think about the relationship between the two sculptures. In Wilson's words, "I try to bring the invisible into view." One of the sites available on the Cultural Trail was located near the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse at 200 West Washington Street in Indianapolis. However, Wilson decided against placing his artwork among monuments depicting important Hoosiers and events related to the State of Indiana:
Background information
In his visits to Indianapolis, Wilson found that there was only one, unnamed African American represented in the city's many memorials and sculptures. The formerly enslaved African American figure appears at the base of the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, a 284 ft. 6 in. commemoration of the American Civil War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Spanish–American War and the Mexican–American War. Some suggest that with the passage of time the commemorative nature of war memorials has been replaced with a more utilitarian purpose, such as city beautification. Consequently, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is said to symbolize both the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. While others argue that there is nothing more invisible than monuments, some art historians suggest that art can be utilized as a vehicle for racist ideology.