Monuments-Carlie Daggett

Monuments are designed not only as a way of remembering collective history, but specifically, to remember such histories in a specific way. 

Kara walker's Fons Americanus, warped the traditional nationalist monument and instead placed a complete image of english colonialism, including the plight of those abducted from Africa and sold by the British and Portuguese. Walker takes the traditional use of the marble fountain and  a within a monument of grandeur. 

In a similar vein, Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of war also warps a traditional national monument, and alters the subject in order to reclaim history. There are thousands of statues in the united states of white men on horses. The image is an iconic depiction of power strength and national admiration, yet the people on these horses are typically men who perpetrated and praised slavery. So putting an unapolegetically, modern black man on top of a horse which typically symbolizes white power creates a really powerful affect. 

In American society, so much attention is garnered towards the wealthy who fund and dictate where things should go and how are society is built. Yet there are so few images and depictions that pay homage to the people who actually built our railroads, tended to our fields, and who literally and metaphorically built the ground on which we stand upon. The Bracero Monument, a sculpture by Dan Medina does just that. The sculpture shows a Mexican family separated by bracero program which lasted from from 1942 until 1964. Those who participated left their homes and families to build America's infrastructure and received very little pay. 

All and all, there is a certain reclaimation of eurocentric symbols of white power, and in doing so changes the dialogue about the people in all of these monuments and who has the right to be celebrated.