Urns of Justice

Diana Moore’s depiction of Justice in the form of monumental urns derives partly from her visits to the Louisiana bayou. while exploring Shadows-on-the-Teche and other historic sites in the vicinity of Lafayette, Moore was intrigued by the tall, decorative ceramic vessels she saw there, which are similar to urns she had seen in southern France. Anthropomorphic vessels have been unearthed in archaeological excavations all over the world, suggesting that this practice is somehow innate to human culture. Moore purposefully made the gender, age, and ethnicity of her figures ambiguous to encompass the splendid diversity of American society. This inclusiveness also alludes to the extraordinary breadth and depth of cultural influences that have shaped the history of Lafayette.

Since antiquity, the personification of Justice has been a common depiction in art. She is normally represented holding a pair of scales in one hand and either a sword or a book in the other. During the renaissance, the standard depiction of Justice included a blindfold to denote her impartiality. While Justice’s blindfold is now a conventional attribute, its depiction in Moore’s Urns of Justice also makes reference to the local culture of Lafayette. The region’s earliest hand-loomed fabrics were often a simple striped pattern, which Moore has adopted for her blindfolds. Coupled with the stars that festoon the bases of the urns, the stripes also evoke the American flag.

Moore’s sculptures for the courthouse sit atop the plinths that flank the building’s entrance. The urns face slightly outward to greet approaching visitors. Each urn measures approximately five feet in height, allowing the sculptures to provide a transition from human to architectural scale. Urns of Justice transforms the ancient use of vessels as architectural ornament into a robust expression of civic ideals and iconic emblems of the federal judiciary in Lafayette.