Missouri Botanical Garden - Niki 2008

On Guide: n10 Sculptures: #19 Baseball Player, #23 Basketball Player, and Golf Player Location: Near Mausoleum When Niki became a great-grandmother, she began to reflect on her own experiences growing up. She felt there were no strong female figures or cultural heroines to inspire her as a child. As she searched for inspirational role models for her bi-racial great-grandchild, Niki saw a lack of positive African-American heroes and cultural icons. She created a series of Black Heroes, representing historic personalities and positive male images to fill that need. You may recognize these three famous athletes as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Tony Gwynn, retired from the San Diego Padres.