Kindred Spirits (sculpture)
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''Kindred Spirits'' is a large
stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
outdoor sculpture in Bailick Park in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. ''Kindred Spirits'' commemorates the 1847 donation by the Native American
Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...
People to Irish famine relief during the Great Hunger, despite the Choctaw themselves living in hardship and poverty and having recently endured the Trail of Tears. While records of the exact amount of the donation vary, the figure usually given is (about $ in inflation-adjusted dollars, though some methods indicate it could have been as high as $20,000 in 2015 dollars). In the Eagle (United States coin), U.S. coinage of the time, U.S.$170 meant 8.22 troy ounces of physical gold, or about US$14,000 in 2020 prices. The sculpture consists of nine stainless steel eagle feathers arranged in a circle, no two feathers being identical, forming a bowl shape to represent a gift of a bowl of food. It was created by Alex Pentek at the Sculpture Factory in Cork (city), Cork, Ireland, with assistance from students of the Crawford College of Art and Design, and installed in Bailick Park in 2015. The memorial was commissioned by Midleton Town Council, and was officially unveiled and dedicated in June 2017 by Chief Gary Batton, Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation, Assistant Chief Jack Austin Jr., and Councillor Seamus McGrath, County Mayor of County Cork, Cork, accompanied by a 20-strong delegation from the Choctaw Nation.


See also

* Feather#In religion and culture, Feathers in Religion and Culture


Notes


References

{{coord, 51.9061, -8.1748, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Outdoor sculptures in Ireland Monuments and memorials in the Republic of Ireland Stainless steel sculptures 2015 sculptures Choctaw Ireland–United States relations