Yolanda Mims Reed came with fellow members of Local 99, the service employees union. Barron Dickerson brought along her aunt Alice. Malik Beyard dropped in by himself.<\/p>\n
They were excited to spot people and places from their neighborhood carved into the walls \u2014 Deryl with the Curl<\/a>\u2019s carwash and automotive repair shop, Krst Unity<\/a> spiritual center, Sika Dwimfo, known as the \u201cGodfather of Leimert Park,\u201d who died<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n They were also simply gratified to see themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked up and I said, \u2018Oh my God, that\u2019s our faces,\u201d Reed said. \u201cThis is what we needed, this is what our neighborhood needed, this is what our people needed.\u201d<\/p>\n These visitors had come to the corner of Western Avenue and 76th Street in South Central Los Angeles to see the long-awaited sculpture park created by the artist Lauren Halsey<\/a>, which opened in March and runs through September 2027.<\/p>\n The installation, \u201csister dreamer: lauren halsey\u2019s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles<\/a>,\u201d combines Halsey\u2019s contemporary perspective infused with ancient Egypt and Africa. It features eight columns and eight sphinxes, along with plantings, benches and fountains. A central open air cube is carved with the names, faces and bodies of neighborhood figures; political marches and festive parades; the signage of long-gone local businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our history is not told \u2014 erasure is real,\u201d said Daquinnise Woodard, a therapist who was visiting the site. \u201cSo this is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n The columns are topped by the faces of the activist Margaret Prescod, founder of the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders; Susan Burton<\/a>, who created a network of safe houses for formerly incarcerated women; and Rosie Lee Hooks, the director of the Watts Towers Art Center<\/a>, a community arts center and cultural institution in South Central Los Angeles. \u201cIt pays homage to the hyperlocal hero,\u201d Halsey said. \u201cIt literally monumentalizes them.\u201d<\/p>\n Hooks said in an interview that she was \u201chonored\u201d to see her face \u201cup on a pole.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt talks about the power of regular people,\u201d she added. \u201cWe\u2019ve forgotten that we have the power to move things.\u201d<\/p>\n On a recent bright morning at the site, which is near where Halsey grew up, the intensely focused artist \u2014 dressed in camo pants and her usual baseball cap \u2014 seemed newly buoyant and uncharacteristically satisfied. \u201cI\u2019m deeply in context for the first time in my career,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t be more happy. I didn\u2019t even know art could do this.\u201d<\/p>\n With \u201csister dreamer,\u201d Halsey, 38, has combined two of her passions and priorities: the making of art and a commitment to community. Her center, Summaeverythang<\/a>, provides free youth programming in arts and education. It served as an important food pantry<\/a> during the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me to be able to sleep at night, my artwork needs to be charged with something more,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the first time in my practice where I\u2019ve been able to assert that something more and to be in collaboration with a neighborhood to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to being formally beautiful in its alabaster-like elegance and openness to the street, \u201csister dreamer\u201d is meant to be a gathering place of activation, education and celebration.<\/p>\n The park occupies the former site of Gwen\u2019s Ice Cream, a neighborhood staple that closed after a fire<\/a> in 2014, where Halsey as a child went for Neapolitan sugar cones and chili dogs. For the installation\u2019s March 14 opening, Halsey brought back Gwen\u2019s ice cream and invited all comers to enjoy a block party that also included the band Parliament Funkadelic and skateboarders.<\/p>\n Future programming at the park, which is open from sunrise to sunset, will include poetry readings, yoga workshops, film screenings \u2014 even an attempt on Juneteenth to break the Guinness Record for the world\u2019s longest Soul Train line.<\/p>\n The sculpture park\u2019s completion has coincided with the opening<\/a> of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art\u2019s new David Geffen Galleries, for which Halsey was commissioned to make a large sphinx and a carved wall.<\/p>\n And \u201csister dreamer\u201d will anchor LACMA\u2019s planned satellite location in South Central. \u201cShe\u2019s connected a very intense social practice with really powerfully lasting objects,\u201d said Michael Govan, LACMA\u2019s director. \u201cSome artists say, \u2018That\u2019s my social practice, this is my art.\u2019 She seems to have a holism about everything she does.\u201d<\/p>\n The installation echoes \u2014 and, in some elements, repurposes \u2014 Halsey\u2019s acclaimed installation<\/a> on the Metropolitan Museum rooftop in 2023.<\/p>\n That commission helped cement Halsey as a star in the art world, having gone from a studio in her grandmother\u2019s garage to a residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem to having her work collected by major museums, including the Met, the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum.<\/p>\n Visitors at the site on a recent day marveled and exclaimed as they walked around. \u201cThat\u2019s my corner!\u201d Reed said, pointing to a section of the wall. \u201cThey got me on here, y\u2019all!\u201d<\/p>\n Dickerson, another visitor, who works in construction management, had a quieter response. \u201cIt just brings calm and tranquillity to the neighborhood,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, you hear all the music, the people, the cars, but then when you come in here, you\u2019re at ease, you are at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Beyard, a security guard at the Los Angeles International Airport car rental center, said he liked seeing \u201cBlack America with Africa combined\u201d and appreciated Halsey\u2019s celebration of his neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a great representation of Black L.A.,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great things that came out of South L.A., especially the Black Power movement, civil rights and the great migration.\u201d<\/p>\n