Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” (Photo courtesy Virginia Museum of Fine Arts/Ka-Man Tse/Times Square Arts)
As with most years, 2019 has had its ups and downs, but this Turkey Day we’re choosing to focus on the things that make us thankful lately. Here are a few:
Next month, Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War,” a 27-foot-tall statue featuring a dreadlocked African American man in the saddle for a pointed remix of Monument Avenue’s tribute to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, will move to its permanent home in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts — on Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
We still miss Ukrop’s stores, but the sting has gotten a little less painful, thanks to the April debut of a Ukrop’s food truck and news that Henrico County approved a Ukrop’s “food hall” in the West End.
In other monument news, statues of seven prominent Virginia women were dedicated in October at the Women’s Monument on Capitol Square (eventually there will be 12, along with a Wall of Honor). Spring 2020 will bring the dedication of the Emancipation Proclamation and Freedom Monument to Brown’s Island.
On Nov. 1, “Harriet,” the Harriet Tubman biopic shot in Richmond, opened, while an untitled “Walking Dead” spinoff and Ethan Hawke’s “The Good Lord Bird” have kept Richmond area actors and aspiring extras busy through this month.
By this time in 2021, we’ll have elected a new governor who never wore blackface. (Well, maybe.)
