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Alexandria unveiled “Break Water,” a public artwork honoring the city’s Black community and the resilience it has shown through crisis and change.
The installation by D.C.-based mixed-media artist Nekisha Durrett became the seventh entry in the annual temporary SiteSee series at Waterfront Park. It was scheduled to remain on display through November 2025.
At its center stands a blackened-wood sculpture recalling the sidewheel of the River Queen, a steamboat associated with Black ownership and opportunity. The vessel was destroyed in a mysterious fire in 1911, shortly after Black entrepreneur Lewis Jefferson purchased it.
Black sandbags encircle the centerpiece, evoking both protective barriers and endurance during emergencies. Durrett said the sandbags also recall ocean breakwaters and Fred Moten’s concept of the jazz “break”—a disruption that can create space for Black resistance, innovation and possibility.
A ground mural titled “Life Lines” surrounds the sculpture with images of tangled, taut ropes. The lines appear to tether the work to architectural features in the park while representing the people, places, events, rituals and traditions woven into Alexandria’s history.
Together, the sculpture and mural reflect the waterfront’s place at the intersection of natural forces and human activity while paying tribute to Alexandria’s Black community.