Beyond Granite presents a dynamic new series of installations designed to expand the canvas for additional storytelling on the National Mall. Its pilot exhibition, Pulling Together, features installations from six leading public artists – Derrick Adams, Tiffany Chung, Ashon T. Crawley, vanessa german, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Wendy Red Star – that respond to a central question: What stories remain untold on the National Mall?

Pulling Together is inspired by the 1939 performance of renowned Black opera singer Marian Anderson, who sang before 75,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after being barred from performing at nearby Constitution Hall due to segregation. Civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune remarked that the event “told a story of hope for tomorrow—a story of triumph—a story of pulling together, a story of splendor and real democracy.” Pulling Together is co-curated by Paul Farber and Salamishah Tillet for Monument Lab.