Remember That Creepy Bird? It’s In Alabama Now

For the past eleven years, an eerie 13-foot tall dove statue with half its scalp ripped off and its right claw torn off has greeted Wolfson Campus students.

The bird peered at people as they entered the 1000 building on the west side of campus. It’s view was partially blocked by three trees and sat just a few feet from the big black “X” sculpture.

Known as Violata Pax Dove or the Wounded Peace Dove, the statue was on loan to the College courtesy of Alabama artist Fred “Nall” Hollis.

But the bird has flown the coop.

On Oct. 13, it was quietly removed using a telehandler and shipped to its new home: Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama.

“It was a sad ending to its visit,” Nall said, as he lamented the Wounded Peace Dove’s final days at Miami Dade College.
The bird’s stay at MDC started in December of 2006 while Nall served as an artist in residence at the New World School of the Arts. During that period, more than 100 of his works were displayed on campus. The dove was the centerpiece of the exhibit, prominently featured on  Kyriakides Plaza at the intersection of N.E 2nd Ave. and N.E 4th St.

However, several months later, it was moved to create more space on the plaza.

“It became an obstruction because we have the Book Fair. We have a lot of events in the Kyriakides Plaza, so we couldn’t keep it there. So we had to find a suitable place and we thought that a nice place would be the student gathering area,” said Juan Mendieta, Miami Dade College’s director of communications.

Nall said he was never informed by the College that the statue had been moved, but he received the news when a friend visited the campus.

“I was very sad when I heard that it had been moved and the people said, ‘it’s horrible where they’ve placed it. You should come down here and see,” Nall said.

The Wounded Dove’s History

The dove was born in a bronze foundry in Pietrasanta, Italy. It was commissioned by Father Vincenzo Coli, custodian of the Franciscan convent in Assisi, Italy, for an exhibit at the St. Francis Basilica. Nall said the Wounded Peace Dove has two siblings and 24 mini versions.

He used a live pigeon as a model when creating the statue. Nall wanted the dove statue to represent damaged universal peace. In an effort to ensure the statue was properly disfigured, he told his assistant to kill the pigeon and “bring me his skull.”

But first, Nall requested the assistant remove the flesh from the skull and boil it to sanitize. The artist then grabbed his modeling knife, stabbed the statue’s forehead and peeled off half of its face to form the skull.

A New Home

Today, the Wounded Peace Dove is perched on Troy University’s quaint Montgomery Campus  across the street from the Rosa Parks Museum, according to Nall. It is reunited with one of its siblings, which sits in front of the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park and International Center at the school’s Troy Campus, where the Fred “Nall” Hollis Gallery and Museum is housed.

Nall said he couldn’t be more content with his prized creation’s new home.

“She is like the Mona Lisa for all my work,” he said.