Nona Faustine, ‘In Praise of Famous Men No More,’ 2020 (Image courtesy of the Artist and Socrates Sculpture Park)
July 2, 2020 By Allie Griffin
A timely exhibit examining the role of monuments in American society will debut this summer at a park in Long Island City.
The exhibition ‘MONUMENTS NOW‘ will open this month at Socrates Sculpture Park, located at 32-01 Vernon Blvd., just as historical monuments across the country are being toppled by protesters — spurred by conversations on systemic racism.
Park visitors will first be greeted by a photo piece titled ‘In Praise of Famous Men No More’ on a billboard raised above the park’s main entrance. The piece by Nona Faustine is going up this week and is part of greater exhibit.
It features a photo of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and a photo of the Theodore Roosevelt monument in front of Manhattan’s Natural History Museum. Each photo is crossed through with a blurred horizontal line.
The work questions the integrity of the iconic monuments of two American presidents, according to its exhibition description.
Two weeks ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city will remove the same Theodore Roosevelt statue which depicts the late president on a horse next to a Native American man and an African man.
The monument has drawn ire from many who say it symbolizes a dark history of racism and colonialism. The police killing of George Floyd and protests against racism motivated the museum to propose its removal.
Other artwork in the exhibit will highlight underrepresented groups and histories, such as queer, Indigenous and Black narratives, that rarely have been honored with monuments.
Commissioned sculptures by artists Jeffrey Gibson, Paul Ramírez Jonas and Xaviera Simmons will be on display as Part I of the exhibit — beginning with Gibson’s on July 10.
Jeffrey Gibson; Rendering of ‘Because Once You Enter My House It Becomes Our House’ at Socrates Sculpture Park; 2020; (Courtesy of the Artist, Socrates Sculpture Park, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York; Kavi Gupta, Chicago; Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.)
Gibson’s large-scale pyramid sculpture celebrates Indigenous Mississippian culture, architecture, activist graphics and queer performance.
Parts II and III of the ‘MONUMENTS NOW’ exhibition will open on October 10. Part II will feature artwork selected through an open call application process and Part III will display a project created by local Queens high school students.
The full exhibit will be on display through March 2021.
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3 Comments
The only thing as bad as people today who deny bad things in our past or present like Trump supporters are these ax grinders on the other end who want to tear down anything in the past that does not measure up to purity PC standards today.
Lincoln preserved/saved us all, the first democracy in 2,500 yrs., ended our original sin of slavery and gave his life for it. (killed in office). Roosevelt although not as perfect was the presidential father of conservation and numerous reforms like pure food and drug act, child labor laws, breaking up trusts etc. etc. H was the first president to host a black luminary for dinner in the WH.
Yes but men were technical racists but they were way ahead of their times in their day especially Lincoln.
Funny. Democratic monuments being placed in a park named after the great philosopher Socrates. Last time I checked, democracy killed Socrates.
Excellent point. The first two major democracies in history, classical Greece and the Roman republic only lasted app, 200 yrs. each. The first was killed by the “democracy” mob and the second by the dictator Caesar. You will always have people trying to pervert democracy from both end of the spectrum.
In present day America, the bigot rabble rouser Trump on the right and the left wing PC pure tear down anything that is not pure by today’s standards no matter what good the person did.