“Cities a socially produced…and city form is not neutral but imbued with ideologies…”
-Malcolm Miles, Art, Space and the City: Public Art and Urban Futures, 1997
-Malcolm Miles, Art, Space and the City: Public Art and Urban Futures, 1997
The Confederate monument statues were erected decades after the Civil War, and it was celebrated by Southern States for a long time associated with institutional and historical racist. The individual object or heroic figure on the pedestal represents the glorification of the subject, in this case is the so-called “Lost Cause”. Statue as an obvious and powerful way to let people know this figure and its idea, opinion or achievement (systemic social inequality) it represents is important enough to cast in bronze and stone as part of Historic narrative and stand the test of time. It failed.
The archeology sites of previous slavery trail, auction houses, and slave burial ground, which are now buried under parking lot, interstate highway…due to the rapid city development and intentional negligence on this untold past. The collective memories of colored people passing by their enslaved ancestors have no materialized commemorative space at all. But as a part of counter history, the “lost memory” exists immaterially as a foil to the Monument Ave. Sites and places for these untold counter-memories need to become obvious enough to the public.
The archeology sites of previous slavery trail, auction houses, and slave burial ground, which are now buried under parking lot, interstate highway…due to the rapid city development and intentional negligence on this untold past. The collective memories of colored people passing by their enslaved ancestors have no materialized commemorative space at all. But as a part of counter history, the “lost memory” exists immaterially as a foil to the Monument Ave. Sites and places for these untold counter-memories need to become obvious enough to the public.
It is what happens now in 2020 that let us rethink about monument, but not only focus on those long-stand statue at monument ave, but also the invisible monuments for the slavery history as an important evidence of social inequity. Most of the public are debating on if the statue should be removed. Minority use it as a counter point advocating social justice, by protesting around it, defacing and toppled it. Keeping the statues where they are (in a place of importance) means outdated ideas regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, class, war, equal rights, and everything in-between should remain stagnant. Meanwhile rightwing group and Confederate sympathizers speak against removal in the cause of “respect for history”. Directly or indirectly, their support on social injustice represented by those confederate monuments are exploited as support on white supremacy inevitably. However according to public survey, 25-30% of general public are expected a certain degree of modification with current social context, instead of total elimination nor preservation. Noted that, however, all these happened around those monument with a “Object” or “Site”.
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