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For Arts Landing, german presents Lifted, two sculptural benches that honor Pittsburgh’s elders— specifically centenarians whose lives and labor have shaped the city’s spirit and infrastructure. In 2025, german visited with senior care centers throughout Pittsburgh, tracing the hands of residents at or nearing 100 years old. These tracings were then translated into the sculptural backs of the benches. german envisions the benches as spaces for reflection, rest, and intergenerational reverence. Both monument and meeting place, Lifted foregrounds the enduring presence of those whose labor and care constructed the city, situating their embodied histories within ongoing civic life.

To the unseen hands that built homes, raised families, forged steel, and carried generations.  

To machinists, steelworkers, caretakers, dreamers.  

To the power of memory—so when you sit, you’re held by history.  

To being lifted up—always.  

About the Artist

vanessa german is a sculptor, performance artist, poet, and activist whose deeply community-rooted practice centers on love, healing, and collective care. A self-taught artist born in Milwaukee and raised in Los Angeles and Ohio, german moved to Pittsburgh in 2000, where her work became inseparable from the city’s social fabric.

Lifted by vanessa german is commissioned by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for Arts Landing.