Poisonous Objects

Two exhibitions in Los Angeles respond to the racist monuments to Confederate soldiers that have been erected all over the United States. Carolina A. Miranda considers what makes them so impactful:

“MONUMENTS” was originally scheduled to open in 2023, but the complicated logistics—including the shipping of so many oversize works, along with the implementation of additional security protocols—delayed the opening by two years. An exhibition about Confederate monuments, however, is never not timely. Last year the Trump administration announced the reinstallation of various Confederate artifacts that had been removed from the D.C. area, including a monument to Albert Pike, who briefly served as a general in the Confederate Army, and the towering Confederate monument at Arlington created by the sculptor Moses Ezekiel. The latter is particularly egregious; it features tropes of the nurturing “mammy” and the “faithful slave.” Trump has described Confederate monuments as “our heritage” and praised their “artistic beauty.” His romanticization of these objects, along with his ongoing suppression of Black history, recently led the writer and television host Baratunde Thurston to describe him as the “president of the Confederacy.”