‘FLORA,’ A NEW BRONZE SCULPTURE THAT DEPICTS A WOMAN OF COLOR CREATED BY MALANA ADELE VASSAR, NOW STANDS IN THE ENTRY GARDEN OF HIGHLAND PARK. | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

If you haven’t been to Highland Park lately, make sure you check out Pittsburgh’s first sculpture that depicts a woman of color on your next visit.

“Flora” — a bronze sculpture of a Black girl draped in elements of nature who’s hugging a rabbit — is located amid the flowers and bushes of the west loop of the park’s entry garden. Pittsburgh artist Marlana Adele Vassar took inspiration from the historical sculptures already in Highland Park and the surrounding nature. The 3½-foot tall statue, which reflects the Art Nouveau style, was installed on April 15.

“I thought that it was essential to provide symbols of progress and possibility with this work,” Vassar said in a statement. “The figure is a person coexisting with nature rather than trying to tame it.” 

Vassar, a 2006 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, describes herself on her website as mostly a self-taught artist. She uses figures as primary subjects to weave “symbolism and surrealism throughout her art, creating images that are personal yet open to interpretation.”

Many of the sculptures in Pittsburgh parks — the four bronze panthers on the Panther Hollow Bridge in Schenley Park, for example — were created by Giuseppe Moretti in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Italian immigrant also created the Welcome Statues at the grand entrance to Highland Park on Highland Avenue. In addition, he created sculptures of children throughout the park, but they are all male.

‘FLORA’ SCULPTURE IN HIGHLAND PARK | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

In developing the concept for “Flora,” Vassar talked with park goers and Highland Park neighbors. The community had expressed a desire for artwork that reflected the city’s cultural diversity and accessibility, but that also captured the history, emotions and landscape of the park.

She told WESA-FM that as much as she admired Moretti’s work, “I didn’t see too much art that ever included people like me. If you want to see these things, you can create them.”

“Flora” was commissioned through Pittsburgh’s Art in Parks program, which is funded from a RADical ImPAct Grant launched in celebration of the Allegheny Regional Asset District’s 25th anniversary in 2019. The district funds the area’s libraries and cultural attractions through special tax proceeds.