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Jun. 26th, 2020 07:03 pmI am ambivalent about the statues being torn down across the world. On one hand, yes, it is infuriating to be constantly surrounded by public art celebrating problematic people. But for me the solution would be to adapt the art, not to remove it.
Take, for example, one of the many random statues of Jefferson Davis, the head of the South, put up during the 1960s as an act of intimidation aimed at non-white people. You could remove it, or you could add a plaque to the base adding that information. Or, my preferred option, you could place another statue next to it of Mary Bowser, the black woman who was the most effective spy of all time because she was so underestimated (beneath suspicion, as it were). She was undercover as a slave and infiltrated Jefferson Davis’ house (the centre of Southern Government, equivalent of the White House). They could be paired statues – the Confederacy and its conqueror.
There would be work for sculptors and artists to make new public art. Some people I would like to see celebrated in this State – Jandamarra (Pigeon) who fought against the colonisation of the north of the State, Sally Morgan, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Emily Kame Knygwarreye (one of my favourite ever painters), Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri (whose mother was killed in the Coniston massacre in 1928, the last major massacre of Aboriginal people and less than 100 years ago), Dooley Bin Bin, Clancy McKenna and Don McLeod who lead the longest Australian strike, asking to be paid in money rather than supplies of necessities in the 1940s, etc, etc, etc. This is the result of about five minutes of brainstorming great Western Australians who, as far as I know don’t have sculptures set up of them.
I get the need for the crowd to get a short term win, but I would rather see more art going up than statues going down.
Edited to add; There should also be those heroic Aboriginal people who were captured, fed salt beef and forced to show where the next watering hole on the Canning Stock Route was. They deliberately avoided sacred sites despite being tortured and kept thirsty.
Edited to add: Or if more traditionally ANZAC-y figures are more acceptable - Oodgeroo Noonuccal (WWII Women’s Army Service in Darwin).
I know nothing of sports but am well aware that Aboriginal people are massively over-represented as successful in that area. Surely another non-controversial area to celebrate, given the Australian obsession with sports.
Edited again to make it clear: I’m not saying these people deserve statues merely to make a counter-balance to the existing abundance of monuments to colonisers. I’m saying all their contributions are worth respecting.
I would like to be part of a society that publicly celebrated their contributions rather than just pulling down what previous generations thought was worth celebrating. This would be the most savage riposte. I see your coloniser/explorer and I raise you one hero.
Take, for example, one of the many random statues of Jefferson Davis, the head of the South, put up during the 1960s as an act of intimidation aimed at non-white people. You could remove it, or you could add a plaque to the base adding that information. Or, my preferred option, you could place another statue next to it of Mary Bowser, the black woman who was the most effective spy of all time because she was so underestimated (beneath suspicion, as it were). She was undercover as a slave and infiltrated Jefferson Davis’ house (the centre of Southern Government, equivalent of the White House). They could be paired statues – the Confederacy and its conqueror.
There would be work for sculptors and artists to make new public art. Some people I would like to see celebrated in this State – Jandamarra (Pigeon) who fought against the colonisation of the north of the State, Sally Morgan, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Emily Kame Knygwarreye (one of my favourite ever painters), Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri (whose mother was killed in the Coniston massacre in 1928, the last major massacre of Aboriginal people and less than 100 years ago), Dooley Bin Bin, Clancy McKenna and Don McLeod who lead the longest Australian strike, asking to be paid in money rather than supplies of necessities in the 1940s, etc, etc, etc. This is the result of about five minutes of brainstorming great Western Australians who, as far as I know don’t have sculptures set up of them.
I get the need for the crowd to get a short term win, but I would rather see more art going up than statues going down.
Edited to add; There should also be those heroic Aboriginal people who were captured, fed salt beef and forced to show where the next watering hole on the Canning Stock Route was. They deliberately avoided sacred sites despite being tortured and kept thirsty.
Edited to add: Or if more traditionally ANZAC-y figures are more acceptable - Oodgeroo Noonuccal (WWII Women’s Army Service in Darwin).
I know nothing of sports but am well aware that Aboriginal people are massively over-represented as successful in that area. Surely another non-controversial area to celebrate, given the Australian obsession with sports.
Edited again to make it clear: I’m not saying these people deserve statues merely to make a counter-balance to the existing abundance of monuments to colonisers. I’m saying all their contributions are worth respecting.
I would like to be part of a society that publicly celebrated their contributions rather than just pulling down what previous generations thought was worth celebrating. This would be the most savage riposte. I see your coloniser/explorer and I raise you one hero.
