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Monumental: How a New Generation of Artists Is Shaping the Memorial Landscape
How recent shifts in social politics have dramatically changed our relationship to monuments.
For centuries, monuments have telegraphed the values and origin myths of dominant culture in public space and on massive scale. They have signaled both who is part of a culture and who is not, often overlooking histories that complicate the stories they tell. Yet in the last 50 years in the United States, the role of monuments has changed significantly. Numerous historical monuments have been removed or toppled, bringing to the fore a long-repressed conversation about the relationship between the monumental landscape and national identity. In Monumental, Cat Dawson takes up the social, political, and art historical causes and ramifications of this important shift.
Examining the conditions that have led to and define this new era, Dawson reveals that these interventions are as indebted to the monumental tradition as they are to representational strategies that grew out of twentieth-century social justice efforts, from the Civil Rights movement to queer organizing during the AIDS crisis.
Since 2014, a new generation of artists has established a groundbreaking role for monuments, calling into question the very notion of what a monument is through novel investigations of how symbolic structures can be made and what stories they can tell. This book tells the important story of that sea change.
For centuries, monuments have telegraphed the values and origin myths of dominant culture in public space and on massive scale. They have signaled both who is part of a culture and who is not, often overlooking histories that complicate the stories they tell. Yet in the last 50 years in the United States, the role of monuments has changed significantly. Numerous historical monuments have been removed or toppled, bringing to the fore a long-repressed conversation about the relationship between the monumental landscape and national identity. In Monumental, Cat Dawson takes up the social, political, and art historical causes and ramifications of this important shift.
Examining the conditions that have led to and define this new era, Dawson reveals that these interventions are as indebted to the monumental tradition as they are to representational strategies that grew out of twentieth-century social justice efforts, from the Civil Rights movement to queer organizing during the AIDS crisis.
Since 2014, a new generation of artists has established a groundbreaking role for monuments, calling into question the very notion of what a monument is through novel investigations of how symbolic structures can be made and what stories they can tell. This book tells the important story of that sea change.
- GenresArt
272 pages, Hardcover
Published August 5, 2025
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October 15, 2025
The book explores how contemporary artists have reshaped the genre of monuments, creating works that differ from traditional statues commemorating dominant culture.
Dawson covers how social justice efforts, from the Civil Rights movement to queer organizing during the AIDS crisis, have influenced the evolution of monuments.
The book addresses how monument removal and toppling in recent years have fueled a conversation about the relationship between the monumental landscape and national identity.
Dawson includes analysis of memorials that recognize the experiences of marginalized groups rather than only focusing on dominant culture. Highly recommend.
Dawson covers how social justice efforts, from the Civil Rights movement to queer organizing during the AIDS crisis, have influenced the evolution of monuments.
The book addresses how monument removal and toppling in recent years have fueled a conversation about the relationship between the monumental landscape and national identity.
Dawson includes analysis of memorials that recognize the experiences of marginalized groups rather than only focusing on dominant culture. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review