Ryder Richards Unveils Public Work Honoring Fallen Dallas Police Officers
Glasstire.com, Christopher Blay, July 24, 2019 [link]
Through his work, artist Ryder Richards often examines what he describes as “the pressures and resultant response of the individual within a dominant (often violent) culture.” This scrutiny has led to Richards’ Resilience and Remembrance, his new public artwork for El Centro College in downtown Dallas, which was unveiled last Wednesday.
The installation is comprised of eight lights atop the canopied entrance to El Centro, and a strip of blue light down the middle of the walkway. It was here that on July 7, 2016, five police officers were killed in the line of duty. The installation honors both those officers and their wounded colleagues.
After working on the piece for the past two years, Richard writes of Resilience: “Besides the obvious light memorial aspect, I wanted the piece to function as a way-finding path to a safe space, so that it could serve a practical function in addition to its symbolic role.”
Resilience and Remembrance
El Centro College [link]
Dallas, Texas
Opening Reception & Unveiling: July 17, 2019
The tragic events of July 7, 2016 changed our community forever. To commemorate the memory of the fallen officers, the resilience of Downtown Dallas, and the El Centro College family, these lights will remain bright.
Since that day, El Centro College has been a testimony to the fallen officers’ sacrifices by continuing to serve as a beacon of learning and growth for the downtown community.
In the tradition of fallen heroes, the light shining upward to the heavens from the earth is a marker of loss and remembrance. The blue line will continue to offer a path to sanctuary for those in need and remain a testament to the ideals of dedication, courage, empathy, sympathy, and honor.
PRESS:
El Centro College unveils installation honoring July 7 ambush fallen officers, FOX 4 News, July 17, 2019
FOX 4 PRESS
Wikipedia:
Dallas, July 7th, 2016 [link]
Raised in Roswell, New Mexico Ryder is based outside of McKinney, Texas. He has exhibited internationally, attended many art residencies, curated numerous exhibitions, and maintains a condensed art review publication, Eutopia: Contemporary Art Review. Some of his more interesting projects include converting a Ryder truck into a nomadic art gallery, co-founding a national arts collective, and re-sheetrocking a gallery as an art exhibition.