After the tragedy, [a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va.] and another honoring Stonewall Jackson were shrouded, but only temporarily. Around the country, similar monuments have been removed. In some cases, only their pedestals remain.
We asked artists to contemplate these markers of our country’s racist and violent history — the space they take up, physically and psychically — and imagine what should happen when they are gone.
— The New York Times
Around the US many statues and monuments celebrating racism in our country's history have been removed, either partially or fully. The question currently remains on what we as a culture should do concerning the spaces these historical monuments inhabit[ed]. The New York Times asked artists to reimagine these spaces as possibilities for the future.
Studio Ijeoma and Michael Yarinsky Design proposed a spiraling structure around the remaining pedestal where a Robert E. Lee monument in New Orleans once stood. The design includes staining the pedestal with colors corresponding to the years of slavery, segregation, and inequity in US history.
Located atop the spiraling stairs is a glass sky room where participants are able to stand where the Confederate general's statue once stood. As visitors encircle the pedestal climbing up and down the winding stairs, they are prompted to contemplate past and current racism in our society.
Take a look at all of the artist submissions here.
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