In 1987, artist John Wilson installed Eternal Presence, a monumental bronze head, on the grounds of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Roxbury. The neighborhood calls it the Big Head, and it has stood there for nearly four decades.
Encounters with 'Eternal Presence' is a short film made for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in which Roxbury community members share what the sculpture means to them. It accompanies Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, the Wilson retrospective organized by the MFA with the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I was director of photography and camera operator. The MFA gave me a small budget to bring on a team of three. We filmed the sculpture's cleaning and the community celebration that grew up around it. We worked fast, the way museum shoots go, and still gave people room to say what the Big Head means to them.
The film played inside the MFA alongside Wilson's own work.
I’ve made films for the MFA Boston and Boston University. Send me the story and I’ll plan the shoot.
See My Services →More project recaps: Sculpture Study Winslow Homer (MFA) Murder in Boston (HBO)
My own photographs are in Dreaming of Fenway Park and the print shop.