Matt Thomas looks like he was chiseled in bronze.
That is why it was a no-brainer for Rodney Cook Jr. to commission renowned sculptor Stan Mullins to render the 31-year-old sometimes model and corporate wellness advisor to be the face and body of Atlanta’s latest statue — Chief Tomochichi.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Standing 20-feet tall, the statue was unveiled and installed at the Millenium Gate Museum Monday near Atlantic Station. But that is just a temporary home.
By at least 2022, Cook hopes to move it to Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Vine City, where it will rest atop a 15-story Peace Column that will anchor the recently opened park. In July, the first statue, of Congressman John Lewis, was unveiled at the new park.
Cook plans to ring the Vine City park with 18 bronze statues, plaques and monuments dedicated to peacemakers with ties to Georgia, including Andrew Young, C.T. Vivian, Julian Bond and Martin Luther King Jr.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Tomochichi, a Native American born close to 400 years ago, seems like an outlier, but Cook said he is the perfect foundation for the park.
According to the Georgia Encyclopedia, in 1733, when General James Oglethorpe settled in Georgia, Tomochichi, the chief of the Yamacraw Indians, received him and granted permission to establish Savannah to take advantage of trading and diplomatic connections. In 1736, Tomochichi and England’s Oglethorpe participated in an expedition to determine the southern boundaries of Georgia and helped mediate interactions with the Spanish.
“We got a very beautiful, monumental statue of the co-founder of Georgia,” Cook said of the chief, who lived roughly from 1644 to1739. “He was one of the first peacekeepers in Georgia and we are proud to tell his story.”
Most Native Americans eventually were pushed off their lands by European settlers, including in the 19th century, when thousands of Cherokee Indians in Georgia and neighboring states were forced to resettle in Oklahoma, in what is known as the Trail of Tears.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Monday morning, while Cook and his guests watched from the top of the Millennium Gate, Mullins directed his team in erecting the statue. Against torrential rain, a crane carefully hoisted the statue as workers carefully guided it to the pedestal.
“Point him right at me,” Mullins barked, standing about 20 feet away on a median to make sure that the statue faced the city.
Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond stood in the rain all morning waiting for the statue to be placed. With his suit soaked, he narrated the process on Facebook Live.
“It is beautiful,” Bond said. “People are taking down Confederate statues, as they should. This is a statue we should be uplifting. We have been wise enough to want to make it right.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Cook and Mullins were looking for a likeness of Tomochichi and stumbled upon Thomas, whom they both knew. Going through old paintings of Tomochichi, Cook noted that Thomas bore a resemblance to one of the chief’s heirs, Toonahowie, “and he looked like the great chief probably would have looked in his prime.”
Thomas, who grew up in Cobb County, took a DNA test to determine if he had Native American blood and passed.
“Then it progressed to me modeling in a loincloth,” Thomas said. “Seeing the statue now is surreal. I still haven’t wrapped my head around it. I can’t wait to show my grandkids one day.”
Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, Thomas and his girlfriend Cassie Cope walked over to the statue as the workers screwed it to the pedestal. He folded his arms and posed for pictures in front of his likeness.
“It is pretty cool to see a giant 20-foot statue of my boyfriend out here,” Cope said. “I can brag to my friends about it. But I told him if we ever broke up, I would never drive by here again.”
