Public Art on the South Park Heritage Trail
In 2024, artist J. Stacy Utley was selected to create public art for the new South Park Heritage Trail. He is proposing a series of “storytelling beacons,” or silhouetted figures that will embody the lived histories, collective memory, and shared resilience of the South Park community.
Silhouettes have long been a powerful form in African American art, symbolizing identity, memory, and cultural heritage and Utley has used them before to emphasize both presence and absence. In this project, the proposed statues will represent more than individuals, becoming symbolic guides that will serve as markers along the trail and help convey the narrative. Through gesture, posture, and their selected locations, each figure will tell stories rooted in the geography and memory of the area.
About the Artist
J. Stacy Utley is a critically acclaimed visual artist and arts educator whose work addresses complex narratives found within the African American diaspora. He is a graduate of NC State University’s College of Design where he received a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He went on to receive a Master of Fine Art from Lesley University College of Art and Design in Cambridge, Mass. His work has been shown nationally and internationally.
Utley experiments with various mediums to address conversant topics of the African American community that shape identities, spaces, and places. As a public artist, he’s been awarded projects across North Carolina, including from the City of Raleigh, the Arts and Science Council, and the Durham County Public Arts Commission.
Learn more about J. Stacy Utley
About the Project
The South Park Heritage Trail is a proposed two-mile cultural trail that will tell the story of an important historically Black neighborhood. Located in the South Park Cultural District, the trail will enhance the neighborhood and share stories important to its community. Through art, signage, and other improvements, it will increase awareness of the area’s rich history and importance to downtown Raleigh’s evolution.
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