Client: Nashville Metro Arts

Overview

Loqui is Blessing Hancock’s largest and most innovative piece to date and one of the largest public art pieces ever commissioned by Metro Arts Nashville for Tennessee’s capital. At three stories high, Loqui (meaning “to speak” in Latin) is a 32 x 32 foot illuminated stainless steel sculpture featuring a sophisticated lighting system to illuminate The Nashville Fairgrounds at night. To symbolize Nashville’s culture of storytelling, the piece features the words and phrases of more than 400 Nashvillians who contributed to the project.

Goals

Metro Arts Nashville issued a call for artists to create a site-specific, public art piece to celebrate the surrounding community and the selected site, The Fairgrounds Nashville.


With community engagement at the heart of her work, Blessing was selected as the artist to create the piece. She found inspiration through Nashville’s rich storytelling history and culture, so she launched a robust community engagement program to learn more about the city’s residents and their stories.


The outreach phase happened during the COVID-19 pandemic so Hancock hired a community liaison, Miriam Speyer, to engage local residents through focus groups, one-on-one conversations and an online survey.

More than 400 residents contributed to the final project, ranging in age from 5 to 85, with hundreds of their words and phrases now cut into the final sculpture.

Loqui is the shape of a dual megaphone to give local community members a voice but also to listen to what they have to say, giving them a chance to be heard.

Blessing also used lighting effects and bright vibrant colors to celebrate the community’s unique culture of storytelling and the excitement of the events that take place at The Fairgrounds.