Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada’s “Facescape,” located between the WWII and Lincoln Memorials in Washington, D.C., is the largest gravel, sand and soil portrait ever commissioned by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
Created on a 6-acre stretch of land, the portrait, called “Out of Many, One,” is a composite of more than one hundred people photographed in D.C.
“’Out of Many, One’ highlights the important role that stone, sand and gravel has in our country, says Mike Johnson, president and CEO of NSSGA. “Just as sand and gravel are essential to this portrait, aggregates are literally the foundation of our economy and society.”
NSSGA member Chaney Enterprises supplied the 2,000 tons of sand needed to complete the image. The portrait will be on view during October, and then will be tilled back into the ground when the viewing period ends.
