Ever wonder what story a statue would say if it could talk?
Well, if you’re passing by the Boston Women’s Memorial on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall with a smartphone, you can find out.
While not quite like “Night at the Museum,” a collaboration between the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail and the Talking Statues Association unveiled Saturday gives voice to First Lady Abigail Adams, poet Phillis Wheatley and suffragist Lucy Stone.
October marks the 20th anniversary of the Boston Women’s Memorial, a bronze by sculpture Meredith Bergmann. t
As part of the project, the sculpture now features a plaque with Bergmann’s name on it, a QR code, and Braille. It works like this: the QR code gets scanned on a smartphone and the person receives a call with the audio, the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail said in a statement.
Masssachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell reads for Adams, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley reads for Wheatley, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu reads for Stone, giving “first person voices to historical figures,” according to the statement.
The three politicians were invited to read “given the strong roster of elected women officials from Boston,” the statement said. The heritage trail said they hope to record it in Spanish as well in the future.
The plaque is also the first with Braille for a QR code on a city sculpture , therefore “widening access for visually impaired residents and visitors,” according to the heritage trail , which worked with disability rights activists to make sure the Braille was “actually readable.”
The project is important for another reason: Bergmann was promised a plaque with her name on it when the statue, her first major commission which “launched her career,” was put up 20 years ago.
The Boston Women’s Heritage Trail “has corrected this omission by adding the sculptor’s name to the Memorial,” the statement said.
The project is the first Talking Statues site in Boston, but joins many others in New York City and across Europe, the statement said.
Breanne Kovatch can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @breannekovatch.