The messages behind these works hit harder because of who is making them and where the original inspiration came from. Wiley and Walker's works are a mimicry of past work. Wiley's pulls from the aesthetics of confederate statues and adds aesthetics of black empowerment (Which makes me ask - Must the aesthetics of black empowerment appropriate the aesthetics of white supremacy?) Wiley's work also depicts branded Nike shoes, was Nike involved in this process or did they give money to Wiley's work? Wiley also stated that this work is "apolotical" which seems difficult to believe as art in any sense is political especially work that causes discussions of race and racial justice. Whereas with Walker's work, the piece is hoped to inspire these conversations over the types of statues and monuments being made-who is benefiting from them and who are they celebrating? Medina's work feels like a win for progressiveness, inclusion, and bringing awareness to a history that has been neglected rather than work made to ignite discussion even though it does have value in that. This monument will also last where it is now. The discussion of monuments has become more prominent in today's world, having art and other monuments that challenge and engage our world's view is important to push these conversations into actual tangible change. These artists backgrounds inform the work they made and gave them a way to tell their story/opinion and have it cemented to the world.
While reading some of the monuments pieces I felt as if each of them had something that they needed to prove. For example, for the Tate piece felt the need to expose what history has done to people. Each level exposed how much each person was taken advantage of in service of someone else. For the rumors of war piece exposed the whole idealism of the past resurrecting a past historical leader to make sure that the event does not happen again. The Bracero monument exposed all of the work that the people of that time had done in order to make sure that not another person is taken advantage of again. But truth be told, all of these monuments have come with some sort of backlash. The bracero monument had gotten criticism for stating that the braceros were free to do what they wished. From what the article had stated that was not the truth. It was merely one persons interpretation of what a bracero was, b...
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