2024–2025: Julie LeBron ’25 Questions Concepts of Freedom
LeBron received this year’s President’s Award for Public Art.
Sculpture major Julie LeBron ’25 is, at her core, a storyteller.
Her award-winning public art project, Strange Liberty, reflects on the ongoing story of racial injustice and the Black experience, weaving these themes into a sculpture that invites reflection, dialogue, and deeper understanding.
Constructed from ceramic clay, a steel armature, cotton, paint, glaze, and varnish, Strange Liberty draws inspiration from the historic Liberty Tree, which stood in Boston from 1646 to 1775. Commemorated in the city, the tree is an emblem of the American colonies’ struggle for independence from British rule. But LeBron’s Strange Liberty calls out this symbol for ignoring the denied freedoms of enslaved Black people at that time and long after.
“As a Black artist, this symbol of American freedom doesn’t include me,” says LeBron.
“I wanted Strange Liberty to be a twist on my experience, the Black experience in America, and highlight the irony that we are a country of freedom that doesn’t apply to all.”
LeBron’s ceramic plums, depicting the faces of Black people, are inspired by the classic Billie Holiday song “Strange Fruit,” about the lynchings of Blacks in the South. Made from slip-cast clay, their varying hues of purple also reference the groundbreaking novel, The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life (1929) by Wallace Thurman.
Referring to Black repression, Thurman coined the phrase “the blacker the berry the sweeter the fruit,” that can be heard today in the music of Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur. The plums also represent the “Say Their Names” initiative, part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It’s important to acknowledge the past by remembering Black victims and honoring their stories,” says LeBron. “Remembering more recent victims honors the enslaved because the cycle would then be broken.”
Site Selection
Installed at a window of the Student Services Building, Strange Liberty looks toward the grounds on the Purchase campus, where it is believed the remains of slaves are buried and where a plaque was placed in 2023 to commemorate their legacy. But LeBron felt the dedication needed more to honor their memory.
“They still have unmarked graves and unknown names. I want to encourage awareness and to start a tradition of not forgetting or erasing history.”
LeBron is intrigued by faces: large and small, innocent and menacing. Her work with ceramic dolls, especially “Ghetto Black Sheep,” about the dehumanization of Black women and girls, was well-received and demonstrates that storytelling through art continues to inform LeBron’s work.
“Even if it’s one little dot, I want it to have a purpose or communicate a story. My goal and hope are for people to learn more, have more discussions about these topics, acknowledge that these things happen, and not let history be forgotten.
—Written by Deb Anders