Noa Bornstein’s Peace Gorilla

Young Friend reunites with Peace Gorilla at Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages

Peace Gorilla’s habitat since August 2023 is at Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages, 520 Kingsland Ave.in Greenpoint. Broadway-stages.com is NY’s premier film and television company, committed to community, sustainability and growth. Kingsland @Broadway Stages is also the home of the Newtown Creek Alliance who work to improve the health of the creek and our community; and of NOopshere Arts, the multi-disciplinary arts & culture partner at Kingsland, and of “Alive Structures,” the expansive greenroof gardens.

Peace Gorilla looks forward to your visit and touch and your discovery of a new word for “friend.”

Visiting Peace Gorilla at Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages

Visit www.kingslandwildflowers.com and click on “Visit” to learn about visiting Peace Gorilla and the Green Roof Plants and Wildflowers M-Friday 10 am to 5 PM.

Directions: Drive, bike or walk: Greenpoint Ave. to Kingsland Ave. (turn left if coming from Manhattan Ave; turn right if coming from Greenpoint Bridge) proceed to the end of street to open gates, 520 Kingsland Ave.
Or take the scenic walk (bike and wheelchair accessible) through George Trakas’ Nature Walk. Enter corner of Paidge and Provost: see the huge ancient glacier stone. When exiting Nature Walk, turn right onto sidewalk to Kingsland Ave. Turn left onto Kingsland and proceed through open gates.

July 27, 2024, Kingsland Wildflowers Festival

The festival included Peace Gorilla’s Peace Party featuring Shana Fruchter (IG: @musicwithshana) NB and Peace Gorilla.

Peace Gorilla traveled around the world and brought back many “friend” words.

Video Clip of Peace Gorilla’s Peace Party, courtesy Tess Wenstrup, Newtown Creek Alliance

Snow Day for Peace Gorilla.
Photo: Newtown Creek Alliance

Thanks again to Walton Hauling · Film · Television · Theatre

Peace Gorilla Heads from Newtown Barge Park to Kingsland Wildflowers

Peace Gorilla waves a fond farewell to the community at Newtown Barge Park

Listen to an audio description of Peace Gorilla by Noa Bornstein

Previous Installations

Newtown Barge Park
(Greenpoint Landing)

Newtown Barge Park, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY
August 2022 – August 2023

NYC Parks’
“Art in the Parks” Program

Across the street from the United Nations in
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 47^th Street at 1^st Avenue
November 2020 — August 2021

Funding made possible by the Puffin Foundation

Peace Gorilla and Friends at Newtown Barge Park – Greenpoint Landing

Noa and Peace Gorilla.
Photo: Gregory Beson

Peace Gorilla’s Celebration of Friendship and Community – Greenpoint Landing, June 4, 2023

Special Guest Speakers

Rabbi Yisroel Nissim
Reverend Ann Kransfield
Note: Due to work schedule, our Muslim speaker was not able to attend, but a Hadith (saying) of the Prophet that speaks of brotherhood was read aloud.

Musicians & Singer Songwriters

Eldad Tarmu
David Bronson
Lorna Kohler
Ansel Matthews
Dawn Del Orbe

Sky Manor Band

Braulio Thorne
Alex Barrera
Robert Weekes

Refreshments were provided by Lincoln Market and Greenpoint Natural Market

Peace Gorilla Celebration Greenpoint Landing

Peace Gorilla and Friends at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza

Sheila Condit and S. Duitch Sloane with Peace Gorilla

Constructing Peace Gorilla

Peace Gorilla with friend Yoko Hori in 2010. The original material is sisal fiber and burlap in plaster and structolite over wire mesh, copper tubing, and plumbing pipe. While creating the piece, the gorilla extended her arm toward me. I was able to interpret the meaning, “Shalom, Salaam, Tomodachi” (Hello, Peace, Friend) in Hebrew, Arabic, and Japanese, the languages I’ve been studying at ABC Languages in Manhattan. Photo, N.B.

Margaret Metzger Production Still from documentary in progress. Bedi Makky foundry owner, Bill Makky with Noa Bornstein. Seen in the background is the metal core of the gorilla, necessary for a hollow casting in the traditional sand casting method.

Margaret Metzger Production Still from documentary in progress. The bronze for the gorilla is melted in the furnace, 2019.

Margaret Metzger Production Still from documentary in progress. Bronze is poured into the gorilla mold.

Bill Makky preparing to weld the gorilla legs onto the torso, 2020. Photo, N.B.

Liam of Oso Industries polishing the base. (Pigmented concrete that was used to fill the rubber mold for the words has to be sanded and polished off.) www.osoindustries.com

Colleagues help set base on boxes on the floor in preparation for mounting

Threading the bolts into the bottom of the feet, NB

Tightening the nuts on the threaded bolts

Peace Gorilla awaiting final trim on base and journey to DHP, Assembly in ground floor space made possible by Meer Precision, www.meerprecision.com

Peace Gorilla leaving the foundry on its way to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

Roei Ben-Jackob (L) and Eric Batchelor (R) setting gorilla in place with our portable gantry. The concrete base will be set onto the wood platform seen on the left.

Eric Batchelor (my husband) under the base again at installation, triple checking the bolts under the gorilla’s feet.

Learn More

About Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat and the Second Secretary General of the United Nations. Hammarskjöld “believed, against all evidence, that human beings could live together peacefully”. (Marilyn S. Greenwald, biographer.) He set the standard for mediation between countries in conflict. Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash in un-clarified circumstances on the way to peace negotiations in Congo in 1961. Please see Link to the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation whose mission is to build on Hammarskjöld’s legacy by advancing dialogue and sustainable development and peace. www.daghammarskjold.se/dag-hammarskjold/

The Lunaape Prayer

Karen Hunter Mosko, member of the Lunaape tribe recites the Lunaape Prayer. The prayer includes thanking the Great Spirit for one’s friends. The Lunaape inhabited the Manhattan area; the Lenape were in what is now Brooklyn. The languages of the two tribes are distinct. Karen is an educator who teaches the Lunaape language. For information on her class in NYC contact the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) elalliance.org (646) 225-6613.

Gorilla Family visits Photographer

In 2011, this mountain gorilla father brought his family to visit a photographer who was with Zegrahm Expeditions in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. It is a sanctuary that has approximately 400 endangered mountain gorillas. “Gorilla trekking” and African Safaris offered. www.bwindiforestnationalpark.com/

The Mountain Gorillas of Virunga National Park

The mountain gorillas are the largest gorillas. They are herbivorous. The world’s entire population of endangered mountain gorillas live only in the Virunga Massif and Bwindi, which spans parts of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. Virunga National Park is home to around a third of those gorillas, which reside in the dense forests on the lush slopes of the Virunga volcanoes. A team of 689 rangers, men and women, protect the Park’s wildlife including the gorillas. The Park also supports local communities by creating new opportunities and jobs for people in sustainable agriculture, hydropower, fisheries, and tourism. This community approach is working to reduce the pressures faced by the Rangers from armed groups, illegal poaching and land encroachment.
Please visit Virunga.org, click on ‘Discover’ and ‘About’ as well as ‘Gorilla Orphanage’

Gorillas Help Maintain Forests

Gorillas are mainly vegetarian and spend almost half of the day feeding on stems, bamboo shoots, and a variety of fruits, supplemented with bark and invertebrates. Gorillas play a key role in maintaining the biodiversity of their forest homes by spreading the seeds of the trees they eat and by opening up gaps in the trees as they move around, letting in light and helping sun-loving plants grow. Please visit the World Wildlife Fund to learn about all four of the Gorilla Families: The Cross River Gorilla, The Mountain Gorilla, the Western Lowland Gorilla, and the Eastern Lowland Gorilla. They are all endangered or critically endangered (at risk for extinction). Great efforts are being made to protect them. Those of us who are far away can learn and even help too. www.worldwildlife.org/species/gorilla

Little Gorilla, the Children’s Book

Little Gorilla, story and pictures by Ruth Lercher Bornstein (my mother) is for small children and the adults in their lives. It comes as a regular-page book, or a board book. Two different covers, same story. Available wherever books are sold. Little Gorilla is also available in the US in Spanish. It has been published in French in France, Japanese in Japan, and in Arabic and Hebrew in Israel. Check availability in US or abroad. Ruthlercherbornstein.com

David Bronson’s song, “Push” explores an aspect of Friendship and Ourselves

David Bronson is an independent music and film/video artist in New York City. He has released a number of critically acclaimed albums in the last decade and is currently working on an original children’s television show with his twin brother and frequent collaborator, Jeremy Bronson. davidbronsonarts.com

Click here for hi-res photos and blind walking group/musicians visiting Peace Gorilla