‘Con’ federate
This work focuses on the recent debates about taking down confederate monuments in the United States. The defenders claim that they are commemorations of the confederates soldiers who fought during the civil war. However most of these statues were built for oppression rather than commemorations. Looking at the statistics, most of the confederate statues were built in the 1910's decades after the war in 1865. There is another spike of statues being built during the civil rights movement during the 1960's, almost a century later. The most interesting aspect is when two maps of the U.S. - one showing where the confederate statues have been built and one showing the percentage of African American population in America. They almost overlap completely.
So given when they were built and where they were built. They work more as symbols of oppression for African Americans rather than symbols of commemoration of a war. Through this work I wanted to express the resilience and what the feeling of oppression can result in.
This work focuses on the recent debates about taking down confederate monuments in the United States. The defenders claim that they are commemorations of the confederates soldiers who fought during the civil war. However most of these statues were built for oppression rather than commemorations. Looking at the statistics, most of the confederate statues were built in the 1910's decades after the war in 1865. There is another spike of statues being built during the civil rights movement during the 1960's, almost a century later. The most interesting aspect is when two maps of the U.S. - one showing where the confederate statues have been built and one showing the percentage of African American population in America. They almost overlap completely.
So given when they were built and where they were built. They work more as symbols of oppression for African Americans rather than symbols of commemoration of a war. Through this work I wanted to express the resilience and what the feeling of oppression can result in.
