Monuments are testaments to how a society wants to remember. Now is the time to ask which monuments can withstand introspection. Artists are opening those conversations – sometimes hilariously.
The Buzludja monument, Bulgaria.
Todor Stoyanov/Shutterstock
As Bulguria’s iconic Buzludzha monument attracts international investment, a survey has found that the country’s people want more of their Communist monuments to be conserved.
A damaged Confederate statue lies on a pallet in a warehouse in Durham, N.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, after protesters yanked it off its pedestal in front of a government building.
AP Photo/Allen Breed
Where do old Confederate statues go when they die? The former Soviet bloc countries could teach the US something about dealing with monuments from a painful past.
More than 40 lynchings have been documented in Maryland.
Shutterstock
Kelebogile Zvobgo, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The first truth commission to research lynchings has been established in Maryland. It has the potential to educate the public about and support racial reconciliation. But it also faces obstacles.
Michelle Duster holding a portrait of her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells.
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
The federal government will spend nearly $50 million over four years to commemorate Captain Cook’s first landing. But some have questioned the spend.
Students should be taught to recognise the political, social, and economic factors that influence how a society conducts and participates in memorialisation of the past.
David Crosling/AAP
Teaching students to recognise and understanding the political, social, and economic factors that influence how we celebrate Remembrance Day would make them more active citizens.
A fire recently tore through an Italian memorial to Mussolini made of trees.
Shutterstock.com
A forest that is also a disturbing memorial to Mussolini recently burned down.
The federal government is renaming the Langevin Block building on Parliament Hill out of respect for Indigenous peoples.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The Langevin Block on Parliament Hill is being renamed out of respect for Indigenous people. But instead of renaming buildings, let’s offer meaningful change to the Indigenous.
Aboriginal dancers from Pinjarra perform at the unveiling of the counter-memorial in Esplanade Park, Fremantle, April 9 1994.
Courtesy Bruce Scates
A Fremantle monument to three white explorers was revised in 1994 to acknowledge the violence committed against Indigenous owners. As Australia struggles to reconcile its racist past, perhaps this monument shows a way forward.
Australia’s first memorial to Indigenous service people.
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles
Many of our public commemorations honour people and incidents that brought great harm to others. We need to look at what that says about us, and how we build more inclusive public memorials.