The city of Atlanta, Georgia welcomed a statue of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr created by famed Jamaican sculptor Basil Watson.

The statue

was unveiled to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States

which is also a celebration of the birthday of the Baptist minister.

The

commemorative statue, entitled “Hope Moving Forward”, is the first of

seven art installations that have been commissioned by the city as part of

their MLK Innovation Corridor Project.

Watson, a

distinguished sculptor in his own right, was selected out of 80 applicants to

create the statue following a call for submissions in 2018.

The bronze

statue depicts Dr King holding a dove and is located at the intersection of

Northside Drive and Martin Luther King Jr Drive in the city.

Among

those praising his effort is Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, who

congratulated Watson on his achievement. For his part, Watson said he wanted to

frame his effort in the key messages that Dr King shared with the world.

Watson is

known for other works including the recent installation of statues of Jamaican

athletes at the National Stadium including Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce,

Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell- Brown.