Washington sculpture by Cork artist Alex Pentek pays tribute to black activist 

Famed for his Choctaw piece in Midleton, Pentek's latest work uses the shape of an allium to pay tribute to civil rights campaigner Charles H Houston, and was recently installed outside a school in Washington, DC 

Alex Pentek, and his allium-shaped piece Unity, which was recently installed in Washington in tribute to Charles H Houston.

It is an achievement in itself to win a prestigious artistic commission during a pandemic — but something else altogether to bring it to fruition from thousands of miles away. It was a challenge relished by Cork sculptor Alex Pentek, whose work is displayed all over Ireland and the world. One of his best-known pieces is the Kindred Spirits sculpture in Midleton, which honours the kindness of the Choctaw Nation to the Irish people during the Famine.

Pentek’s latest commission, Unity, commemorates the black activist Charles Hamilton Houston, who played a significant role in dismantling the Jim Crow segregation laws.