Skip to main content

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. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Emmanuel Bradshaw-Monuments article-wk4

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jake Jolley Week 4

How do context and identity impact the form and meaning of these artistic projects? - The context and identity impact the forms of these projects by creating a new solid standing vision of not forgetting. Meaning further that These monuments help to represent the past, as well as to honor those that act as the subject of each. As spoken about in the Guardian article, these monuments not only show the past as well as the present and future, but what it has been built on, or rather who it was built on. These projects create an identity for the minorities and remind the greater population of the struggles faced, as well as struggles still at hand. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Clare Morrissey-Art and Social Change Reader- Week 6

Art and Social Change Invisible Theatre               Invisible Theatre is the art of creating a performance in spaces that are not stages. The people who witness it cannot be aware it is a performance or else they would become spectators. The way this can be done is creating a solid and locked script that the actors stick to but also know it so well it allows flexibility and the ability for them to mess with it when the people witnessing the act give input or there is any disruption. The actors will prepare for anything when it comes to their performance. It is imperative to choose a location where people gather in large groups in the public. An example of how this is done is by having actors play in a scene in a crowded restaurant with many patrons. You have one actor make a big fuss over a meal they hate and the waiter offers them the nicest meal, acknowledging the price which the actor eating the meal lets it be known that the price is o...
Post a Comment
Read more