American artist Janet Echelman has installed a woven sculpture composed of blue fibres on a site in Florida with history that traces back to the American Civil Rights Movement.
Bending Arc is a permanent work suspended above a grassy park overlooking the Pier District in St Petersburg, Florida.

The piece is 72 feet tall (21.9 metres) at its peak and measures 424 feet in width (129.2 metres). Its shape constantly changes as it ripples with the movement of wind.
Echelman, a Florida native, took cues from the colours and patterns of beach umbrellas illustrated on old postcards and from marine barnacles that live beneath the pier to design the woven sculpture.

In her research she came across information about the site's historical significance during the Civil Rights Movement, which began in the 1950s, as a location where local citizens protested segregation. The outcry led to the 1957 US Supreme Court ruling that allowed people of all races to use the municipal beach and swimming pool.
"I wanted to celebrate the courage of the people whose work led to the freedom and inclusion we can all experience today at the new pier," Echelman told Dezeen.
Echelman has titled the work Bending Arc to reference words said by Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice".

"The title Bending Arc is important to me, and it embraces the goal of the new pier to welcome everyone ? all ages, all background...