Title: The Rekia Boyd Memorial
Artist: TBD
Location: Douglass Park
The Rekia Boyd Monument Project follows a decade of public art activations in and around Douglass Park by the Chicago-based organization A Long Walk Home (ALWH), a national organization that uses art to empower young people and end violence against women and girls. In partnership with Monument Lab and community collaboration, the commissioned monument poses a central question: How do we build a monument that commemorates Rekia Boyd’s legacy and celebrates Black girlhood? Through a selection process five finalists have been identified, with a winning proposal to be announced in early 2026.
● Nina Cooke John’s “Sweet Harbor” reimagining Douglass Park as a modern-day hush harbor — a contemplative gathering place to mourn Rekia’s death while celebrating the lives of Black women who gathered there.
● Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s “For Rekia, For Us” three freestanding walls layered with murals, sound and bronze reliefs.
● Tiff Massey’s “Rekia’s Sound Garden” a landscape of braided metal drums, mirrors and swings.
● Sonja Henderson’s “Rekia Boyd Monument Project” a 9-foot, bell-adorned Boyd standing at the center of an interactive sonic garden.
● And in Nekisha Durrett’s “R.E.K.I.A.,” Boyd’s name itself becomes architecture in five bold letters that create rooms for gathering.
Learn more about A Long Walk Home.