At King’s Bend Park in Pittsford, a new 16-foot bronze sculpture stands next to a calm pond.
“I get a feeling of serenity when I see that,” Pittsford Supervisor Bill Smith said. “I think part of that has to do with the setting. I think part of it has to do with the message itself: somewhat abstract, a human form expressing freedom in movement, and with the upraised face — a symbol of hope.”
Smith is describing Terrafly. World-renowned Indian sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan created the towering piece. On Saturday, Smith, local officials and visiting dignitaries joined Dogra Art Foundation founder Dr. Vikram Dogra to pull a specially designed, ruby-red sari from the figure, formally introducing the sculpture to Rochester.
The Dogra Foundation commissioned the piece and then donated it to the town. According to Smith, the foundation and Popli Design Group covered all expenses except for a few hours of town employees' time.
Dogra is a recently retired radiologist who practiced at the University of Rochester for 50 years. The Pittsford resident said the installation is the most recent chapter of his larger philanthropic goal: to bridge cultures through public art.
“When I say this is my home, that simply means I will die in Rochester — snow, sunshine, whatever, I love Rochester,” Dogra said. “So if this is my home, it is my duty to beautify my home.”
Dogra and his family established the foundation to promote South Asian art and heritage across North America through lectures, educational programs, and public installations. But for Dogra, establishing roots locally was an essential first step.
“Rochester being our home, we believe that there should not be darkness under the lampshade,” Dogra said. “So we started with Rochester.”
Beyond beautification, Dogra views public art as a vehicle for cultural understanding and belonging.
“We want to be part of the American fabric. We want to be part of it; we are not outside it,” Dogra said. “We don’t want them to look at us as, ‘Oh, he is a foreigner.’ If they understand our culture, then they will not look at us as a foreigner. They will accept us as part of the community.”
Drawing on his medical background, Dogra compared visual art to scientific diagnosis.
“I want my neighbor to understand we are not different, we are the same,” Dogra said. “And what is a better way of teaching somebody about culture than through art? It is somewhere like evidence-based medicine: You show the artwork, it speaks the culture, and others understand.”
The sculpture features a human figure balancing atop a slender column, doing a near handstand. Figures like this are a recurring motif in Radhakrishnan’s open-air sculptures, representing “human aspiration and transcendence.”
Terrafly is the first of several planned installations. The Dogra Art Foundation is currently in discussions with the neighboring town of Brighton for a companion piece, with ambitions to place at least five sculptures across the Finger Lakes region in the years ahead.
