The exhibition "Monuments" opens this week at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Moca) and the Brick in Los Angeles, featuring decommissioned Confederate statues alongside contemporary artworks. The show includes a double monument of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on loan from Baltimore, which required road closures and careful logistics to install, as well as works by Kara Walker, Hank Willis Thomas, and Karon Davis that recontextualize these symbols of white supremacy. Curators Hamza Walker, Bennett Simpson, and Kara Walker collaborated on the exhibition, which runs from October 23 through May 3, 2026.
This exhibition matters because it directly confronts America's legacy of racial injustice by placing contested Confederate monuments—removed during recent racial reckonings—in dialogue with contemporary art, transforming them from public symbols of oppression into subjects of critical reflection. The logistical challenges of moving these massive, heavy statues highlight their original permanence and the deliberate effort required to address their meaning. The show is site-specific and will not travel, making it a singular moment for Los Angeles and the broader art world to engage with ongoing debates about public memory, white supremacy, and Black subjugation.