This installation was inspired in part by the following account, paraphrased from “The Growth of Charlotte: A History”, by Dr. Thomas W. Hanchett:

The years 1897 through 1914 mark the period of Charlotte’s second economic boom in which the expansion of textile, manufacturing, retail and banking industries brought new wealth to the area. Accompanying this booming economic growth was extensive development of the city, including the appearance of a ring of suburbs encircling Charlotte. The downtown spread in all directions, including upwards, as the Carolina’s first steel-frame skyscraper, the Independence Building, was completed in 1909. Another measure taken in the name of this New South progress swapped out the trees lining Tryon Street for electric street lights. The street was to become “The Great White Way,” after the brightly lit section of New York’s City’s Broadway of that name. Despite the protest by visiting Cambridge landscape architect Paul B. Forest that the plan was “the grossest error,” Mayor C.A. Bland, his Board of Alderman, and Duke Power persisted. In 1912, the trees were cut down.

World Without End was built for this hallway at the McColl Center for Visual Art using recycled paper, wood and cardboard gathered on-site and in the area, as well as some materials salvaged from a previous installation.

Thank you to McColl Center staff and fellow residents for help in gathering materials and in installation of the work. Special thanks to Shelli Merritt for her donation of renovation materials and to Kit Kube for his lighting expertise.