Down the River: Muhammad Ali Threw His Olympic Gold Medal Into the Ohio, 2015

CAROLYN SPERANZA

Down the River: Muhammad Ali Threw His Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio, 2015 Panels of The Navigator map (1818), 39 portraits, birds, polished river rock, wall mural, 2 audio recordings of Muhammad Ali

In Down the River: Muhammad Ali Threw His Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio, Carolyn Speranza takes us on a physical journey down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Mississippi, and meets the Atlantic Ocean in New Orleans with rather poignant stops along the way. These stops serve as an index of the environmental and social health of our waterways and their historical use in human trafficking and pollution. In her installation, the proverbial canary in the coal mine—the harbinger of impending harm—is indicated by the presence of birds. Not accidently, these species are some of the first affected by a changing environment.

The journey begins as we cascade like water down the stairway. Toxic crows fly overhead and Coast Guard data regarding environmental spills is displayed on the “riverbanks.” On the first landing, Speranza presents portraits of African American boys and young men; each portrait is of someone who lost his life to violence in the states along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. At the end of the installation on the lower level, we are confronted by a large painted mural of Muhammad Ali. With audio of The People’s Champion, Speranza reminds us of the story of Ali who, in a demonstration of abject frustration, is said to have thrown his Olympic medal into the Ohio River following a racist encounter in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, even after he brought home the coveted Olympic Gold.

“ On my first visit to the Weston Art Gallery, I saw the public library's Cincinnati Panorama of 1848—an interactive map that provided a guide to the edge-to-edge illuminated photographs of the Ohio riverfront. Pressing a button reminded me that in 1848, the river separated not just geographic states, but also the states of being a slave and of a free man. Having read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn aloud with my family as a kid,” Speranza states, “I stood there thinking of Huck saying, ‘We would sell the raft and get on a steamboat and go way up the Ohio amongst the free States, and then be out of trouble.’”

Carolyn Speranza (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) specializes in art and social practice. With an emphasis on water issues, her work often focuses on the human relationship to the environment. Speranza leads the PGH4ART campaign to enforce the Percent for Art ordinance in Pittsburgh and curated the first iteration of Too Shallow for Diving in 2011 at the American Jewish Museum in Pittsburgh. The show was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant for educational programming with inner city youth.

This exhibition is dedicated to her parents Paul D. and Ada P. Speranza.