When Basil Watson accepts a commission for a project, posterity not glory, is etched in his mind. Educating through his work is critical.

On Saturday, Watson’s second statue of track legend Usain Bolt was unveiled at Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, South Florida. His first Bolt monument, which stands in Independence Park at the National Stadium in St Andrew, was unveiled in December 2017.

It has been a busy last two years for Watson, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He was commissioned by Miramar Vice Mayor Alexandra Davis to do the Bolt piece, which is cast in bronze, done in clay and lays on a two-tier granite structure.

Watson has had major works launched at Waterloo Station, London (the National Windrush Monument) in June 2022. In January 2021, his ‘Hope Moving Forward’ piece dedicated to Civil Rights icon Dr Martin Luther King Jr was unveiled in Atlanta.

The new Bolt figure is posted in a city with a massive Jamaican and West Indian community. Its mayor, Wayne Messam, was born in South Florida to Jamaican parents while Davis is Jamaican.

“I’ve always wanted to do works shown in the public domain, and recently I have been given opportunities to do so,” said Watson in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

He said the Windrush and King monuments honour two transformative movements. The former is homage to West Indian immigrants who went to the United Kingdom by ship in 1948, while the King piece salutes the US Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

“There is a strong call for discussions on certain issues. Certainly, the George Floyd incident showed that, and our public sculptures are part of those discussions,” Watson noted.

For his second Bolt project, Watson again viewed voluminous images of the multiple Olympic and World Championships-winning sprinter. After agreeing with Miramar officials about direction, Bolt was informed in detail and the sculptor began his “time consuming” job in early 2021.

The 65 year-old Watson determined not to replicate his earlier Bolt work, but admits getting away from a posture that has defined the sprinter was unavoidable.

“We thought about getting away from the To The World gesture but it is an expression that is representative of his emotions and feelings,” said Watson.

Born in Kingston, Watson is the son of celebrated painter Barrington Watson. He and older brother Raymond followed their father’s footsteps to Kingston College and also developed a passion for the arts.

Barrington Watson played on Kingston College’s historic winning Manning Cup football team of 1949, while Basil also represented the school in Manning Cup during the early 1970s.

Like his father, Basil Watson is unapologetically black conscious. His recent assignments transcend work.

“They are a tremendous opportunity for me to make people aware,” he said.