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Tupac Statue to be Unveiled
Thursday, August 18, 2005
By: John Kennedy
 In commemoration of the nine year anniversary of 2pac’s death, the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) will unveil a bronze memorial statue of the slain rapper.
The statue will be presented on Sept. 13 at 6 pm as a public ceremony in Atlanta and will be located at the center of the six-acre Peace Garden.
2pac’s statue was designed by Tina Allen, who has previously created monuments of other historic African-American icons such as Nat King Cole and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The sculpture will stand seven feet tall on a three-foot base inside a fountain and will be surrounded with poetry and quotations written by 2pac over the course of his life.
“What a pleasure to create a sculpture for a beautiful, charismatic young man who left us too soon,” Allen said. “Now his legacy is drawing our children to the arts, encouraging them to dream a bigger dream – no matter what their circumstances, Tupac has made it cool to express themselves through the arts.”
The presentation of the statue will feature performances by the Tupac Summer Performing Arts Camp, as well as discussions with Afeni Shakur - Tupac’s mother and founder of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation (TASF) – and Allen.
“This statue will serve as a reminder to all of those who visit the Peace Garden of the love and hope for peace my son always held in his heart,” Ms. Shakur said. “This sculpture and the center that surrounds it will carry Tupac’s message on down to our children’s children.”
While the unveiling ceremony is free for all to attend, tickets for the reception to follow are available for $50 – or, for a donation of $100 one can attend the reception and purchase a commemorative brick that can be engraved with a name or message. The bricks will be constructed into the Tupac Center, as part of TASF’s “One Brick at a Time” campaign. All proceeds will go toward the $3 million still needed for the Center’s completion.
On Sept. 20, Tupac’s artistic influence will be celebrated again with the release of The Rose, Vol. 2, a compilation of songs inspired by poems Tupac wrote as a teenager. The collection will feature noted artist such as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Outlawz, and Digital Underground’s Shock G.
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