Pressure from the Burn

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
1995
Found wood, fire hose, nails
76 x 41 x 10 inches
Collection of
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Holley assembled this piece from materials (old boards and fire hose) found along the railroad tracks near Sloss Furnace. Sloss Furnace is a historical site in Birmingham and was the location of Holley's The Goal of Creativity sculpture built in 1993 and destroyed a year later. In Pressure from the Burn, Holley tells himself not to succumb to hatred of those who would do harm to him and black culture. He said at the time. "Having to put out a fire inside yourself, no matter how bad the blaze you been in, you got to go on carrying your burden."