Joiri Minaya, The Cloaking of the statue of Christopher Columbus behind the Bayfront Park Amphitheatre, Miami, Florida, 2019. Dye-sublimation print on spandex fabric and wood structure. Photo by Zachary Balber, commissioned by Fringe Projects Miami.
Marking Monuments
January 22 – March 6, 2021
USF Contemporary Art Museum Lee and Victor Leavengood Gallery + Online
Marking Monuments engages with the global dialogues confronting and dismantling colonialist and racist monuments, markers and memorials in public space. A selection of artists’ installations and interventions challenge, erase and transform dominant histories, offering reimagined representations for equity in public culture. The projects in this exhibition offer creative approaches to unfix history and reclaim space to reveal diverse narratives expanding collective knowledge and memory. Asserting the power and potential of art and the vital role of the artist to challenge and reframe critical social issues, these projects respond to the historical context of existing monuments, their site and community to shed light on questions of commemoration, visibility, permanence and inclusion in representation – Who is responsible for inscribing public space? Who is being honored and how? How do monuments and memorials generate knowledge and memory of our past, present and future?
Marking Monuments includes projects by Ariel René Jackson, Joiri Minaya, Karyn Olivier in collaboration with Trapeta B. Mayson, John Sims, and Monument Lab. Marking Monuments is curated by Sarah Howard, USF Curator of Public Art and Social Practice; and organized by the USF Contemporary Art Museum.
PRESS
03/09/2021 - Gallery experiences go virtual at the USF Contemporary Art Museum - By Jessi Smith, 83degrees
02/24/2021 - Sarasota artist John Sims demands change through art, writing - By Maggie Duffy, Tampa Bay Times
Read More >
01/22/2021 - Art Diary, Marking Monuments - Apollo, The International Art Magazine
Read More >
ONLINE EXHIBITION
Exhibition Home // Essay by Sarah Howard // Foreword + Acknowledgements
Ariel René Jackson // Joiri Minaya // Karyn Olivier in collaboration with Trapeta B. Mayson // John Sims // Monument Lab
EXHIBITION BROCHURE
VIRTUAL TOUR
Explore this virtual 360 degree interactive walkthrough of the Marking Monuments exhibition. For the best experience click the View Fullscreen icon in the lower right of the window. Virtual tour Courtesy of USF 3D Access Lab, Dr. Laura Harrison, and Elliot Alvarez.
SYMPOSIUM VIDEO
Reimagining Monuments: Contemporary Interventions in Public Space
January 23, 2021
As part of USFCAM’s exhibition Marking Monuments, contemporary artists and leading practitioners in the public art field discussed their artistic practice and creative strategies to challenge, erase and transform the dominant histories and symbols to offer reimagined representations for equity in the public realm. Panelists: Ariel René Jackson, Karyn Olivier, Joiri Minaya, John Sims, and Patricia Eunji Kim of Monument Lab; Moderator: Sarah Howard, USF Curator of Public Art and Social Practice.
This panel was the first in a four-part symposium series, Monuments, Markers and Memory, that focuses on the critical exploration of power, politics and activism around public monuments and memorials. The Monuments, Markers and Memory symposium series is made possible through a partnership between the Florida Public Archaeology Network; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art; USF Department of Anthropology; USF Contemporary Art Museum; New College Public Archaeology Lab; and State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, and is supported by Florida Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and USF ResearchOne. Information on future panels can be found on the Monuments, Markers and Memory Facebook Page.
VIRTUAL CURATOR'S TOUR
February 25, 2021
Sarah Howard, USF Curator of Public Art and Social Practice, led a virtual tour of the exhibition Marking Monuments, and discussed the power of monuments to construct history and reflect collective memories of the past, present and future.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
Monument Lab, Field Trip, 2020. Hands on activity guide. Monument Lab Team: Kanyinsola Anifowoshe, Paul Farber, Patricia Eunji Kim, Hilary C.V. Leathem, Sue Mobley, and Yannick Trapman-O'Brien. Produced with support from the Center for Public Art and Space at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design. Monument Lab Field Trip was designed and illustrated by Mike Murawski and Bryna Campbell with Super Nature Adventures. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Monument Lab, Field Trip, 2020. Hands on activity guide. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Monument Lab, Field Trip, 2020. Hands on activity guide. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Monument Lab, Field Trip, 2020. Hands on activity guide. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Joiri Minaya, Proposal for artistic intervention on the Columbus statue in front of the Government House in Nassau, The Bahamas, 2017. Archival pigment print, 5 x 7 in. postcards. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Joiri Minaya, The Cloaking of the statues of Ponce de Leon at the Torch of Friendship and Christopher Columbus behind the Bayfront Park Amphitheatre in Miami, Florida, 2019. Archival pigment prints presented on custom wallpaper patterns. Courtesy of the artist. Photographs within the installation: The Cloaking of the statue of Christopher Columbus behind the Bayfront Park Amphitheatre, Miami, Florida; The Cloaking of the statue of Ponce de Leon at the Torch of Friendship on Biscayne Blvd, Miami, Florida, dye-sublimation print on spandex fabric and wood scructure. Photos by Zachary Balber, commissioned by Fringe Projects Miami. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Left: Joiri Minaya. Right: John Sims. Photo: Will Lytch.
Left to right: John Sims, Freedom Memorial at Gamble Plantation, 2020. 7:47 min. video animation with sound; John Sims, AfroConfederate Flag: 12 Foot, 2020. Nylon; John Sims, Freedom Memorial Marker, 2020. Latex paint on synthetic material. All works courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
John Sims, Freedom Memorial at Gamble Plantation, 2020. 7:47 min. video animation with sound. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
John Sims, Freedom Memorial Marker, 2020. Latex paint on synthetic material. Courtesy of the artist. Installation View of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Left: John Sims. Right: Karyn Olivier. Photo: Will Lytch.
Karyn Olivier, The Battle is Joined, 2017. Vernon Park, Philadelphia PA. Commissioned by Monument Lab and Mural Arts. video documentation with audio recording of Trapeta B. Mayson’s poem Monuments to Brown Boys commissioned for public art installation. 1:46 min. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Karyn Olivier, The Battle is Joined, 2017. Vernon Park, Philadelphia PA. Commissioned by Monument Lab and Mural Arts. video documentation with audio recording of Trapeta B. Mayson’s poem Monuments to Brown Boys commissioned for public art installation. 1:46 min. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Ariel René Jackson, Bentonville Forecast: In the Square, 2019. 4:14 min. Video; weather balloon, confederate statue, testimonials provided by Sharon Killian, Rachel Lynett, Sheree Miller, and Tonya Jackson. Filmed in Bentonville, AR at Momentary Residency. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Left: Ariel René Jackson. Right: Joiri Minaya. Photo: Will Lytch.
Installation view of Marking Monuments exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Left: Ariel René Jackson. Right: Joiri Minaya. Photo: Will Lytch.
Marking Monuments is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, IRA Initiatives for Social Justice Fund, USFCAM Art for Community Engagement (ACE) Fund, the Lee and Victor Leavengood Endowment, and the Florida Department of State.
