The exhibition "Monuments" opens on 23 October in Los Angeles, co-curated by Hamza Walker, Bennett Simpson, and artist Kara Walker, and staged at both the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) and the Brick. It features nearly 20 decommissioned Confederate statues—including the melted-down Robert E. Lee monument from Charlottesville—displayed alongside contemporary works by artists such as Leonardo Drew, Martin Puryear, Nona Faustine, Kahlil Robert Irving, Bethany Collins, and Walter Price. The show was inspired by the 2017 Unite the Right rally and the subsequent removal of dozens of monuments across the US.
Why it matters: This exhibition directly confronts the ongoing American debate over public monuments tied to slavery and white supremacy, treating the decommissioned statues not as discarded relics but as charged artworks with complex histories. By placing them in dialogue with contemporary counter-monuments, the curators reframe these objects as catalysts for critical reflection on race, violence, and memory. The show also marks a rare institutional collaboration between MOCA and a smaller nonprofit space, the Brick, and underscores the art world's role in processing sociopolitical trauma through curation and artistic practice.