Philadelphia-based, Trinidadian-born artist Karyn Olivier has won the commission to create a public artwork for installation at the new Vel R. Phillips Plaza, which opened in Downtown Milwaukee this past June.
Olivier’s permanent installation will be a memorial titled "I Didn’t Do It Alone," that honors the late Milwaukee politician, attorney, judge and Civil Rights activist, Vel R. Phillips.
The work has three main components, most immediately noticeable of which will be a pair of stone colonade-like sections with six outward-facing figurative sculptures, linked arm in arm, that represent citizens, activists and leaders who stood and marched with Phillips for change during open housing protests in Milwaukee.
There will also be a bronze desk and an empty bronze chair, signifying Phillips' absence, but also can be read as a challenge to the view to create an impact.
The desk will feature items that DCD says, “may include a framed photo of Phillips and her husband W. Dale Phillips, a page from a housing ordinance, a desk nameplate, a phone, papers, folders and more.”
The name and the work derive from the spirit of Phillips’ oft-spoken phrase, “I didn’t do it alone.”
"I'm very excited to have this opportunity to create a public work for the Vel R. Phillips Plaza,” Olivier said in a statement issued Monday. “Vel's legacy is so inspiring – one that reminds us of the values found in persistence, hard work, and unflagging optimism.
“This installation is meant to honor Vel and her accomplishments on our behalf. Just as importantly, my intention is to inspire all of us to carry on where Vel left off."
The work was commissioned by the City of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development, which issued a Request for Qualifications seeking an artist in fall of 2023. A committee comprising 16 curators, artists, collectors, community members and City of Milwaukee staff, judged 60 projects, and selected three finalists.
After a site visit and development of a detailed outline for the proposal timeline, reporting schedule and procedures for proposal submissions, as well as subsequent interviews, the committee selected Olivier and her work.
Olivier has participated in the Whitney Biennial, Prospect.6 Triennial in New Orleans and the Malta Biennale this year. Next year, she will complete and install a memorial commemorating more than 5,000 African Americans interred beneath a Philadephia playground in the Bethel Burying Ground.
In 2023, Olivier – who is also a professor at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University – had her second solo show at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, and the year before that she took part in Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, and installed a large permanent work at Newark Airport’s Terminal A.
“The Vel R. Phillips memorial reminds Milwaukee of the transformative power of unity, commitment to justice, and expanding liberties,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “‘I Didn’t Do It Alone’ honors not only her remarkable contributions but also serves as an inspiration to continue to fight for a mission that Vel R. Phillips dedicated her life and career towards.”
The Philips Plaza work is expected to be unveiled in 2026. In the meantime Olivier is working with the city on a timeline, engineering plans, permitting and coordinating logistics of shipping the work to Milwaukee and installing it Downtown.
The Milwaukee Arts Board will examine Olivier's preliminary designs on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
The all-inclusive budget for the commission is $600,000 with funds from the TID 110 (Vel R. Phillips and Michigan) approved by the Common Council in 2022.
“‘I Didn’t Do It Alone’ honors the great Vel R. Phillips and her belief that we must work together to achieve justice and equality,” said District 6 Alderwoman and Milwaukee Arts Board Chair Milele A. Coggs.
“Her legacy as a trailblazing leader and advocate reminds us all of our responsibility to do what is right and fight for a better, more inclusive community.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
