The Shape of Long Beach is a project funded by the City of Long Beach in collaboration with the Arts Council of Long Beach and Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture Inc., where a team of local Long Beach artists and I worked on designing concrete engravings to be constructed along the Historic Walk outside of the Billie Jean King Main Public Library in Long Beach, California.
Working with editors and graphic designers, we each designed engravings highlighting unique fragments of historical watermarks through our shared knowledge and perspective of Long Beach, the city we call home.
In 1785, a Tongva medicine woman named Toypurina inspired villagers to take up arms and lead a revolt against Spanish colonizers at the San Gabriel Mission.
“Toypurina,” 2024
After I finalized the design, it was then given to an engraver to fabricate on concrete.
I included Toypurina in this series to memorialize her rightful place in Long Beach history.
“Bath House” refers to the Long Beach Purity raids of 1914; the Long Beach Police Department hired two men to find and arrest men engaging in homosexual activity in the city. Their tactics were frequenting bath houses, private clubs, and public parks to solicit gay men. This design has yet to be engraved (TBD).
“2020 Uprising,” refers to Long Beach’s first Queer Pride 4 Black Lives march organized by local community members in response to the George Floyd protests happening during the summer of 2020. This design has yet to be engraved (TBD).