Art at Metropolitan Park in Crystal City remembers lost community

Eye-catching art is on display at Metropolitan Park, now open outside the first Amazon HQ2 towers in Crystal City.

Why it matters: The 2.5-acre park, renovated at a cost of $14 million to Amazon and featuring new playgrounds and new greenery, is part of the first phase of the HQ2 project, expected to create 25,000 jobs in Arlington.

Zoom in: The art on display includes a 35-foot-tall brick tower, Queen City, designed by Nekisha Durrett.

• The artwork is named for a Black community in Arlington that was destroyed in the 1940s after the government seized the land through eminent domain for construction of the Pentagon, according to WETA.
• Inside the structure are 903 pieces of ceramic vessels in a teardrop shape that commemorate the 903 residents who were displaced.

🍄 Another art piece, Shhh, by Aurora Robson, consists of sculpted mushrooms.

• The artist used “upcycled plastic to create 3-D printed mushrooms” which glow in the dark at night, “reminiscent of the bioluminescent mushrooms found in nearby forests,” according to Arlington County.

Flashback: Crystal City really likes mushrooms: In 2021, ten large mushrooms were lit up on display near Long Bridge Park as a pop-up exhibit.