Aleia Installation & Storywalk
Harlem Culture Creativity & Care Initiative
Location: Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, NY
Status: Built
Size: 3,200 sq ft
Year: 2024
Team: Jerome Haferd (lead artist / architect), Gabriel Moyer-Perez, Violet Greenberg, and Pedro Cruz Cruz
“Aleia” marks the second phase of interactive public artworks for the Mellon funded Culture, Creativity, and Care initiative by Harlem Grown. These public artworks play an important role in the community, doubling as spaces for respite, gathering, and connection. As with the 2023 installation “Sankofa” at the base of the Park, the project is designed by Jerome Haferd / Jerome Haferd Studio, a local Black-led public art and architecture practice. “Aleia”, a name that has multicultural origins meaning “ascendant”, and “exalted”, was chosen for the piece, which sits high atop the Mt. Morris Acropolis at the center of Marcus Garvey Park.
The main structure is shaped and sits atop a 32 foot semi-circular stage, which opens to embrace the natural proscenium that is formed by the recently renovated Acropolis terrace. Inspired by Sankofa’s modular system, the design conceptually breaks apart and reaches out, allowing for several pieces of Aleia to form a meandering Storywalk of steel totems that lead park goers up the stairs to the new installation. The Storywalk features historic and contemporary compositions of the Park, Harlem, and Marcus Garvey himself.
Aleia’s stage is framed by a spectacular, woven mesh canopy. The canopy design, composed of interweaving printed strands, is inspired by woven architecture from around the globe and features drawings contributed from community children in the Harlem Grown afterschool program. The centerpiece of the bright and youthful design are five paintings by the Harlem-based artist, Thomas Heath. This includes 4 paintings from Heath’s “UB Rolling” series and the painting “Pandemic”, which together surround the space like watchful sentinels.