To usher in the next century of the National Museum of Asian Art, artist Do Ho Suh (b. 1962, South Korea) was commissioned to create a special edition of his work Public Figures to be installed in front of the museum and facing the National Mall in Washington, DC.
For Public Figures, Suh created a plinth for a monument. However, the imposing form is not a base to honor an individual or to mark a particular historic event, but rather a massive weight held aloft by many small figures in mid-stride. Placed among some of the United States’ most important national institutions, the sculpture prompts viewers to consider the notion of heroic individualism and the stability of national narratives.
