New renderings have been unveiled following the city’s Cultural Affairs Commission approval of the recently announced first slate of sculptural installations set to line the forthcoming Destination Crenshaw development in Los Angeles.

The $100 million community redevelopment scheme features a streetscape designed by Perkins&Will’s local office in addition to several green community meetings spaces from Studio-MLA.

Overhead images reveal the Sankofa Park section of the corridor dotted with artworks by Kehinde Wiley, Maren Hassinger, Artis Lane, and Charles Dickson. The park lies along 46th Street on the northernmost bookend of the 1.3-mile-long site. Its elongated avian shape is derived from the eponymous sankofa bird, a traditional African symbol representing movement that Dickson captures in his simultaneous allusion to Los Angeles’ indispensable car culture.

At the south end of the development near Slauson Avenue, two parks usher visitors into Destination Crenshaw with installations by Alison Saar and Brenna Youngblood. Welcome Park comes first with two twin 13-foot statues with hair comprised of found objects taken from local thrift stores and cast in bronze symbolizing the art and cultural output of the community. Current Crenshaw resident Youngblood’s sculpture follows with an allusion to the 1968 Memphis sanitation worker strike in reference to the aptly named I AM Park. A sculpture by Melvin Edwards will be installed at 54th Street as well.

“We’re thrilled by the enthusiastic support the City of Los Angeles has given our plans to strengthen the community by installing these exceptional works, whose artists have been nurtured and inspired by the Crenshaw neighborhood," Destination Crenshaw president Jason Foster said in a statement. "We express our deep gratitude to the Getty Foundation and all our generous donors for committing themselves to this community-led project, which we initiated with the conviction that residents of one of the world’s largest and most creative Black neighborhoods deserve to live in a beautiful, green, artistically impressive, and economically strong environment.”

Billed as an “economically thriving business and cultural corridor for Black L.A.,” the development is moving forward thanks to a public-private partnership that has already raised over $61 million dollars from a variety of sources including star NBA guard DeMar DeRozan, who grew up in the neighborhood. 

Over 100 artists have been selected for the rotating art installation program. Destination Crenshaw broke ground in June and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.