Artist Damon Davis wants you to confront the past as you visit CityPark.
He’s created “Pillars of the Valley,†a series of eight granite pillars that evoke hourglasses. The installation stands outside the southwest corner of the new City SC stadium. It’s the East ºüÀêÊÓƵ native’s largest artwork to date.
“This is something you have to confront as you’re coming up the street,†he said.
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The installation recognizes the neighborhood that once stood there, called Mill Creek Valley. It was home to about 20,000 predominantly Black people, more than 800 businesses and more than 40 houses of worship before the city demolished it all in the late 1950s. Officials had wanted to use the 450 acres to expand a highway, a project that never happened.
Davis, 37, had never heard of Mill Creek Valley before starting his work with Great Rivers Greenway about six years ago. In fact, he hadn’t heard of plans for the stadium. The artwork was created to be part of the Brickline Greenway, which proposes up to 20 miles of pathways throughout the city. This segment is being built between the stadium and Harris-Stowe State University. It will also be part of the Counterpublic civic arts exhibition later this year, a series of installations along a 1-mile path of Black historic sites.
Sections of limestone within the upper part of the hourglass-shaped granite pillars evoke dirt or sand, raising up the land of Mill Creek Valley to honor it or turn back time. Davis also says the hourglasses represent portals to go back in time into people’s homes. Landscaping and lines on the ground represent real plot lines, and quotes etched in the pillars are from actual residents.
“I want people who are standing there to know that you’re in somebody’s house, and you should show respect,†said Davis. “For the stadium to get there, those people had to get out.â€
Granite borders are etched with a map of the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood as well as dozens of names of residents and their occupations. Davis met with a few of the Mill Creek Valley elders as he worked on his design.
He hopes that they feel a validation or a vindication when they visit the installation, which he hopes will become a rallying point for people worldwide who have been displaced from their homes.
“No matter what their story is, that’s a pretty universal story right now. A lot of refugees, a lot of people being put out of their homes. That’s lofty for some rocks in front of a soccer stadium.â€
Great Rivers Greenway will host an  2-4 p.m. Feb. 19 at the artwork, at Market and 22nd streets.
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