Renowned artist Kara Walker has created a powerful new artwork by dismantling a Confederate statue of General Stonewall Jackson that previously stood in Charlottesville, Virginia, and transforming it into a haunting, disfigured beast. The reconstituted sculpture, titled "Unmanned Drone" (2023), represents a striking commentary on Civil War monuments and their contested legacy in American society.
The original bronze equestrian monument depicted Jackson spurring his horse into battle and stood in Charlottesville until its removal in 2021. Walker methodically dissected the statue and reassembled the pieces in what the artist describes as a "Hieronymous Bosch-like fashion," creating a grotesque reimagining of the Confederate general and his steed. The resulting sculpture shows a horseman wandering through what appears to be a Civil War purgatory, dragging his sword across a devastated battlefield.
The artwork is part of Walker's exhibition called "Monuments," which opens at The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles on October 23. The statue was acquired in 2021 by The Brick, formerly known as LAXART, directly from the city of Charlottesville and given to Walker specifically to create this transformative piece.
In describing her artistic vision, Walker drew upon Southern folklore and cultural traditions. She compared the sculpture to a "haint," a concept rooted in Gullah Geechee culture that refers to a spirit that has escaped its human form and roams about causing mischief and seeking vengeance. This cultural reference adds layers of meaning to the work, connecting it to African American traditions and the complex history of the American South.
Walker explained to The New York Times that her sculpture represents more than just the deconstruction of a physical monument. "What is deconstructed is not just a statue but the myth of suppressed Confederate glory that it represents," she said. The artist suggested that her sculpture exists as "a sort of haint of itself," forcing the romanticized imagination of the Lost Cause to confront its true nature and historical reality.
The transformation of Confederate monuments has become a significant cultural and political issue across the United States, particularly following the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that centered around the proposed removal of Confederate statues. Walker's artistic intervention offers a unique approach to dealing with these controversial monuments, neither preserving them in their original form nor completely destroying them, but rather reimagining them through an artistic lens that challenges their original meaning and purpose.
The Guardian has also featured extensive coverage of the exhibition and Walker's innovative approach to addressing America's complicated relationship with its Civil War monuments. The "Monuments" exhibition promises to showcase several such transformed works, offering visitors an opportunity to engage with these historical artifacts in a completely new context that encourages critical reflection on American history and memory.
