NYC reveals design proposals for Billie Holiday monument in Queens
More than seven years after it was first commissioned, a monument honoring Billie Holiday in New York City is moving forward. The city’s Department of Cultural Affairs on Tuesday unveiled proposals from six artists for a new permanent artwork celebrating the jazz legend that will be installed at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens. The monument is part of a long-delayed effort to increase the representation of influential women in public spaces across the five boroughs. The public can review the proposals and submit feedback through the end of May. An artist will be chosen this summer.
While she was born in Philadelphia, Billie Holiday moved to Harlem with her mother and began singing in nightclubs as a teenager, as 6sqft previously reported.
She rose to fame in the 1930s, transforming American music through her distinctive voice and emotional depth. Her song “Strange Fruit” remains one of the most powerful works of political expression in American music and was named “song of the century” by Time magazine.
Holiday also broke racial barriers, becoming the first Black woman to perform with integrated white bands. Her honors include several Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She later lived and performed in Queens, and the monument aims to honor her connection to the borough.
“Of all the music titans who have called Queens home, few stand taller or shine brighter than Billie Holiday. More than 65 years after her passing, her unmistakable voice and dynamic legacy continue to inspire performers across borough, city, state, nation, and world,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said.
“It’s only right that she be forever honored at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center, a venue she would have undoubtedly loved. Thank you to the incredible artists who have put forth stunning proposals honoring Billie’s memory, and I encourage all our neighbors to make their thoughts known through the end of the month.”
The monument was originally part of the She Built NYC campaign, which first launched in June 2018 with the goal of ensuring half of the city’s statues honor women. At the time, just five of the city’s 150 statues depicted women. The first wave included statues for Billie Holiday, Shirley Chisholm, Elizabeth Jennings Graham, Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías, and Katherine Walker.
Stalled during the pandemic, the initiative remained inactive until March 2024, when former Mayor Eric Adams revived the effort. The artworks are commissioned through the DCLA’s Percent for Art program, with a panel convening in late 2025 to invite six artists to develop proposals.
Since then, the artists have participated in orientation sessions, site visits, and discussions with Billie Holiday experts and family members, alongside ongoing guidance from DCLA staff as they refined their concepts.
The final design will be selected by a Percent for Art panel made up of representatives from city agencies, local leaders, community members, public art professionals, and stakeholders committed to preserving Holiday’s legacy. The decision is set to be announced this summer.
See the proposals for the Billie Holiday monument below:
La Vaughn Belle: “Billie Holiday: Still, at the Crossing” (working title)
La Vaughn Belle, one of the finalists, has proposed “Billie Holiday: Still, at the Crossing,” which presents the singer in a moment of “self-possession.” Emerging from the ground at the edge of a reflective pool, the sculpture depicts Holiday at the intersection of her public and private life, shifting focus to a “pre-stage” moment, with the singer elegantly dressed for a public appearance but wrapped in a private garment.
Nikesha Breeze: “Lady Sings the Truth: A Monument to Billie Holiday” (working title)
Nekisha Breeze has proposed “Lady Sings the Truth: A Monument to Billie Holiday.” Carved in Nero Marquina marble, the monument honors Holiday’s voice, elegance, song style, advocacy for racial justice, and ties to Queens. The use of black marble reflects her legacy and symbolic power.
The sculpture depicts her standing mid-song, with a gown cascading into an integrated seat that functions as a stone amphitheater and resonance chamber. White marble gardenias sit in her hair and float in a reflecting pool below. The work is engraved with the phrase “Sing the Truth.”
Nekisha Durrett: “Bending the Note” (working title)
Nekisha Durrett has proposed “Bending the Note,” which reimagines Holiday as a white marble gardenia petal rising from a thin stem. Its gentle bend reveals a gold underside that refracts light. Beneath, a circular granite plinth transforms her life into “concentric revolutions of memory, sound, and story,” etched in gold and silver and developed in collaboration with her family to “set the record straight.”
Tanda Francis: “Blood at the Root” (working title)
“Blood at the Root” by Tanda Francis honors Holiday’s role as a “spiritual godmother” to those who suffered as she did. Gardenia petals spiral outward from her crown above a healing pond, whose water is intended to “cleanse” and “bear witness.” Blood-red tiles at its base honor the pain she experienced. Community members will inscribe personal tribulations and triumphs onto the petals through workshops.
Thomas J. Price: “Held Within” (working title)
Thomas J. Price has created “Held Within,” which looks past Holiday’s immense fame and depicts her as wholly unguarded and entirely herself. The sculpture is inspired by a private photograph of Holiday pressing her face into a small dog she loved. Two simplified bronze forms mirror that gesture, stripped of likeness, costume, and era. The smaller form is intentionally ambiguous and can be read as a dog, a child, or a beloved person.
Tavares Strachan: “The Very Thought of You” (working title)
“The Very Thought of You” by Tavares Strachan is a stone sculpture inspired by Billie Holiday, named after one of her famed recordings. Based on a historic photographic profile, the proposal transforms her silhouette into an “infinite, vessel-like form,” where mirrored profiles fan outward across a central void. The sculpture is intended as a container for “sound, memory, and presence.”
“For much of her life, Billie Holiday considered NYC her creative home. It’s appropriate the city is now honoring her with a monument that will symbolize her enduring contribution not only to the city but to American culture,” Paul Alexander, author of “Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year,” said.
Members of the public are invited to review the final proposals and submit feedback through an online form. Responses from the survey will be shared with the Percent for Art selection panel to help inform the final decision.
An exhibition of the proposal renderings will be on view in the lobby of the Jamaica Performing Arts Center for the rest of the month. The display will be open May 22 to 25 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., May 27 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., May 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and May 31 from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
RELATED:
