When visitors step into a courtyard outside the International Arts Center on Troy University’s Montgomery campus, they’ll discover a 13-foot-high statue of a bird that looks as if one eye has been gouged out.
It is meant to shock and it does.
The creepy yet thought-provoking artwork, created by famed artist and Troy native Nall, is called Violata Pax Dove, which translates to Wounded Peace Dove. Inside the International Arts Center, the Fred “Nall” Hollis Museum showcases Nall’s artworks from the 1960s to today.
The wounded dove in the courtyard is the most visible of the late artist’s works. Made of white bronze, the statue was created in a foundry in Pietrasanta, Italy, in 2006 after being commissioned by Pope Benedict XVI. The statue was part of a “Sins of Humanity” exhibit in Italy…