Reclaiming the Monument

Dustin Klein, American

Reclaiming the Monument, 2020

Dustin Klein’s Reclaiming the Monument is a work that “reclaims” the space of the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, a symbol of hatred and racism. A series of video projections lasting multiple nights, Reclaiming the Monument started out as a memorial dedicated to those whose lives were lost to police brutality then shifted to a space supporting black empowerment and those protesting injustice. This work also shifts the energy surrounding the space from one of intimidation and discomfort to that of healing and support. The image shown above pictures Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in Kentucky. Her face brings color to the dark, looming figure of Robert E. Lee, while BLM is projected on the figure, directing the attention of onlookers from the figure itself to the message on its surface and literally as well as figuratively overpowering the message the monument sends. Label by Grace Moser

John Wayne, American

David Manuel, American, born 1940

John Wayne, American, 2020

Amid the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020, it was suggested that the Orange County, California John Wayne Airport name be changed because of the white supremacist comments the actor had made in interviews during his lifetime and the attitudes toward indigenous peoples commonly expressed in Wayne’s films. Residents of Winterset, Iowa, the town of Wayne’s birth, quickly joined the debate through local news and social media. Many expressed anxieties that this local statue of the actor might be removed. Others stated their disdain that Wayne was prominently featured on a main street named for him while Black botanist George Washington Carver, arguably a more important figure in the town’s history, was only commemorated in a small alleyway park one block away. The over-life-sized statue of Wayne in the cowboy attire common in his movies remains standing, continuing to raise the questions: who gets celebrated and where? Label by Morgan Brittain

Protestors hang a figure pulled from the Confederate monument at the state Capitol at the Intersection of Salisbury and Hargett Streets in Raleigh, N.C., on June 19, 2020

Travis Long

Protestors hang a figure pulled from the Confederate monument at the state Capitol at the Intersection of Salisbury and Hargett Streets in Raleigh, N.C., on June 19, 2020, 2020

The global pandemic of COVID-19 aligned with a pandemic that has been plaguing the US since its conception- RACISM. Police brutality towards people of color came to a traumatic turning point when footage of the murder of George Floyd flooded the internet. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police force protestors, disheartened and hopeless peoples took to the streets to demonstrate their need for change. Travis Long captured protestors who took to removing and re-contextualizing confederate leader statues. In the photograph above protestors hung the confederate statue in the state capital of North Carolina. This symbolic message showed how Americans are ready to rewrite the skewed version of US history that we have been taught for years. The hanging of the confederate statue provokes an uncomfortable feeling but juxtaposes how people of color were hung all over the country by white supremacists. Label by Annabel Bentley

She the People

Bee Harris

She the People, 2020

Brittany (Bee) Harris produces art that consists of abstract shapes and vivid colors that exhibits her social justice activism. Harris’s print, She the People, displays a black fist with orange nail polish closely resembling what is known as the Black Power fist logo. The Black Power fist is associated with the Black Power Movement and can be used to represent solidarity, allyship, and unity. The fist is arranged palm side out, demonstrating strength and memory rather than violence, which a knuckles forward fist could resemble. Above the fist are the words, “SHE THE PEOPLE,” surrounded by bold square and rectangle blocks. Harris’s inclusion of “SHE THE PEOPLE’ embodies and elevates the leadership of women in color during this progressive cultural and political time. Label by Elsa Rall