Midterm Project

Austin Caswell

Art425- Midterm Project Artist Statement

For this arts-based research project, my research inquiry is to examine the inclusivity and contemporary meaning behind monumental and memorial public sculpture. I am interested to see what in public sculpture has been or has become problematic, and I wanted to join in the conversation as well by offering some possible public sculpture ideas.

The visual representation I decided to investigate was an image from a Washington Post article by Kayla Epstein titled “’They were racists’: Confederate monument in Nashville sprayed with blood-red graffiti.” This image depicted an old Confederate statue of a soldier sitting on top of a pedestal spray painted red in areas to make the figure appear dosed in blood. The pedestal was also splashed with the blood-red paint, and, on the plaque, “THEY WERE RASCISTS” was written.[1] The blend of vandalism and the historical context of the statue renders this image striking. This act, which is illegal, reflects that members of the public are so dissatisfied with this sculpture that they went to great lengths and risked possible legal trouble for making this statement. The statue was initially constructed to honor and memorialize Confederate soldiers who had died in the Civil War. According to Epstein, in 1909, “‘tears came into the eyes of Confederate veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy’ as the ‘magnificent bronze monument to the Confederate private soldier’ was unveiled.” While it may have touched members of the public back then, “such monuments glorify the country’s history of slavery and racism” today.[2] The cultural and societal context of it today is one of white supremacism, nationalism, and hate as the people honored in this work died fighting for a land with legal, race-based slavery.

Due to the engagement with vandalism, spectatorship is indicated through this action. Spectatorship, according to Irit Rogoff, is “the ground of contestation” when “unstable normativity constantly and vehemently attempts to shore itself up.” Furthermore, “spectatorship as an investigative field understands that what the eye purportedly ‘sees’ is dictated to it by an entire set of beliefs and desires and set by coded languages and generic apparatuses.”[3] Therefore, in this case, the spectator’s view is linked with understanding disagreement with the sentiment of supporting those who fought for the Confederacy as this statue does. The spectator’s interaction is associated with their cultural and social awareness, and if they are aware of what the Confederacy stood for, then they are likely to understand why a statue like this could be offensive to non-white individuals in the United States. Those who can see this context may agree with the vandalism or, at the very least, not be bothered by it. Art critic John Berger examined the relationship of gender in his work, “Ways of Seeing”, and discussed that “to be born a woman has been born, within an allotted and confined space, into keeping of men.”[4] While Berger is relating the dynamics of power between gender, his statement relates to all who don’t fit the identity of the power holders. In the context of the United States, white men have historically been the power holders. The spectator, if viewing from a neutral lens, would see how the act of vandalism to this piece could be a way to actively call attention to a value no longer desired in public, and spark the discussion in a salient manner.

To further analyze the image, Paul Duncum’s article, “Seven Principles for Visual Cultural Education”, brings attention to the issue of representation in an image. Representation, according to Duncum, sheds a light on “what is privileged and what is marginalized.”[5] It questions the hierarchy of objects, and questions what an image is associated with. The sculpture in the image is serving to represent white people and the racism that was perpetuated in the South. This is easily understood because of its literal depiction of a Confederate soldier and listing of Confederate soldier’s names.[6] Furthermore, in Farah Mohammed’s news article, “The New Meaning of Monuments”, it has been noticed that enormous monuments have begun popping up around Asia recently as well. These statues are acting as “icons of power, of conquest, of victory, and of identity”, and it is believed that they reflect a rise in nationalistic views as there is a direct correlation between the idea of nationalism and symbols that assert power and authority.[7] Large, physically imposing sculptures that utilize representation in a literal fashion have worked to fossilize the past in one view point. This serves to define a narrative moving forward rather than allow for the people to assess their viewpoints on history actively. Due to the nature of the representational figure, the style of representation that literally depicts one identity, particularly a powerholder, isn’t inclusive to all identities.

Another principle from Duncum that was useful in analyzing this image was gaze. According to Duncum, we gaze “differently depending on our gender, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, and so on.”[8] Therefore, many different kinds of people will gaze at this image differently as well. Some may see the vandalism and think it is uncalled for. Others may think it is an underreaction to the sculpture still standing in public. Others may not care at all. One artist who considered gaze within the context of public art is Karyn Olivier. She created a reflective sheeting cover over an old American Revolution monument, which she believes helps set “implications for the future and the now” along with acknowledging the past.[9] Her use of mirrors reflects the world around it, making it successful in representing the current moment and appearing anticipatory towards the future as well. She claims that the mirrors also force viewers to deal with “a lack of resolution.”[10] This also promotes gaze towards an object as somewhat of a conversation. The lack of resolution renders it as if the conversation is still building.

From my analysis, I found that representation of symbols related to power and literal figures are both risky moves if you want to create inclusive art for all that doesn’t aim at identity. What we represent matters, and if we focus on representing on thing, we risk excluding others. That is why I decided to go with simple shapes and forms for my sculpture. Furthermore, analyzing gaze taught me how conditioned we are to see things. I decided to use reflective materials so that my piece could memorialize the present and future as well as the past because of how reflective surfaces literally reflect the world around them. Gaze also taught me that I could focus on perpetuating a conversation as well. The unfinished aspect of my pieces where the armature is visible symbolizes the unfinished conversation we have societally about inclusivity and diversity.

This case study has helped me go further into my inquiry by providing me with a good starting point of analyses. It shows me that I have a lot more public art to analyze and consider, and it informs me that I can keep building off of this inquiry in the future.

[1] Kayla Epstein, “’They were racists’: Confederate monument in Nashville sprayed with blood-red graffiti,” Washington Post, June 18, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/06/18/they-were-racists-confederate-monument-nashville-sprayed-with-blood-red-graffiti/ (accessed October 16, 2019).

[2] Epstein, “They were racists.”

[3] Irit Rogoff, “Studying Visual Culture,” in The Visual Culture Reader (London: Routledge, 1998), 32.

[4] John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: BBC, 1972), 46.

[5] Paul Duncum, “Seven Principles for Visual Culture Education,” Art Education, vol 63, no. 1: 7.

[6] Epstein, “They were racists.”

[7] Farah Mohammed, “The New Meaning of Monuments,” JSTOR Daily, November 17, 2018, https://daily.jstor.org/the-new-meaning-of-monuments/ (accessed October 16, 2019).

[8] Duncum, Paul, “Seven Principles for Visual Culture Education,” 8.

[9] “The Battle is Joined,” Mural Arts Philadelphia, November 16, 2017, https://www.muralarts.org/artworks/monumentlab/the-battle-is-joined/ (accessed October 16, 2019).

[10] “The Battle is Joined.”