After years of planning, designing, and finally casting – the Henrietta Lacks monument in Downtown Roanoke is set for unveiling and dedication Wednesday this morning.
Lacks’ immense contribution to cancer research has only in recent years garnered worldwide attention. She was born in Roanoke, but later in life developed cancer. In the 1950's cells from her tumor were taken without her knowledge or consent and used for research that is still making medical breakthroughs today.
Bryce Cobbs, Roanoke native and the artist behind the conceptual drawing for the statue, talks about what went into making the memorial a reality - and his hopes for the unveiling event.
Craig: The accolades for your work are nothing new to you, but this project has brought a whole new level of attention your way. How has that been?
Bryce: Right. A lot of different projects over the years have blessed me with the chance to expose my art to a broader audience. It’s just a blessing, seriously . I always joke around that I just do my art because I love to do it. And just the fact that the artwork that the Lord has blessed me to make has produced a little bit of a following and people are interested in what I have to say with my work. It’s just really humbling.
See more of Bryce Cobbs' projects & gallery.
Craig: Every time you present something new, there are always levels of anxiety. Do you recall anxiety when unveiling the concept art?
Bryce: Oh, man! (laughs) I had anxiety pretty much the whole time I was working on it. Just because I know what standard I want to be able to work at – and I know how I want my art to be received. And this being such an important project and such a legendary woman, I didn’t want to not do her justice – and not do her family justice.
Craig: You worked with sculptor Larry Bechtel on the project. Can you talk a little bit about the collaborative process?
Bryce: My main goal for the project was to capture the pose and essence of who she was. Larry and I communicated – I was l like, Larry, I have two or three pictures of Henrietta Lacks and they’re all fuzzy! (laughs) So, I’m not going to focus too much on getting her face one hundred percent right. I want to communicate her personality and her character through the pose. And since he told me early on that he would be able to work with the family members to kind of capture her likeness - that took a little bit of pressure off me because - okay, cool – now I can just really focus on nailing that pose.
Craig: There is tremendous strength in her pose – so, I think you’ve succeeded. Can you elaborate just a little bit more on the process of getting to that final pose?
Bryce: Yes. You nailed it right there. I really wanted to make it a strong pose. And I wanted it to speak strongly about who she was. I’ve never sculpted. I’ve always appreciated sculpture. I feel like sculpture has such movement. It is a static piece – but it has movement to it. I wanted to capture that energy and that movement in a still pose. How can we communicate that this woman was very important. I did a lot of different renderings standing different ways. Maybe her hands on her hips. I saw a few statues that people had been done with her hands on her hips and said I want to do something new. I want to do something that we haven’t really seen before. So, I changed it to the arms crossed and that gave me a sense of she means business! This is a very serious woman. But I also put a smile on her face. I was like, Larry we’ve got to have her smiling a little bit. Doing that, the smile invites people to question. If you didn’t know who Henrietta Lacks was and you walk past the statue, you’re like: Who is this woman? She’s demanding attention right now. So, I really want to give that sense of inviting people to question about who she may be and where she may be from – all these different questions that might come up.
Craig: Are you feeling pretty confident about Wednesday?
Bryce: I’m feeling very confident! We’ve been in contact with Larry. I’ve seen the maquettes. I’ve seen the statue. I hope the streets are crowded. I hope that this is a really packed-out event. Because it just needs to be. I think the people of the city needs this type of energy. The city needs this type of monument. I was nervous for the one last year at the reveal of the concept. But I’m not so nervous this time! I think I’ll be able to enjoy myself and be more comfortable out there. A lot of hard work went into it from everybody involved. I think it’s so important that we do this and just have a good time with it.
