The History We Learn From Statues and Why the Iconoclasts of 2017–2020 are Correct
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Shelley’s “Ozymandias”
In the cacophony of social media opinions about the removal of white supremacist statues, one of the loudest, and most erroneous, is the one that maintains that history comes from books, not images, so we don’t need these statues to tell us about our history. The error here comes from multiple assumptions: 1. books are reliable, visual art is not, 2. people don’t even notice the art anyway, and 3. the idea that art cannot really impart actual information. So here I want to explain how necessary and crucial art is to society, and what it tells us about history, and in so doing, I hope to show that these points are the very reasons why these statues MUST come down.
Now these bizarre attempts to suggest material and visual remains are not part of the historical record has come as a bit of a shock to many archaeologists and art historians. Of course, these Tweets, etc., are attempts to deny the conservative assertions that we need the statues of slave owners and brutal racists in order to learn. That, of course, is not true either. But when it’s said: “these are our history”, that is not wrong.
So, what is “history”? One error that is made is that “history” necessarily means “past”. Of course, it does mean that, but the original meaning is pertinent here. It comes from the ancient Greek word ῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ, (historia), which means “inquiry”, or an examination. We can make histories of our current societies, as well as past societies. When it comes to artwork in our lived spaces, it is necessary to take this broader, more expanded view.
In the case of these monuments to white supremacists, the relevant history is not only at their point of creation and their original installation, and their purpose at that time, and what it tells us about the locations and their intentions 100 years ago. But because they are physically present, in our spaces, in our faces, they also tell us the history of who the people were in that space for the entire length of those 100 years or more. So, white supremacist images in prominent spaces, even at a cursory glance, tell us who is powerful in our society. Not only the past. Our society today. They are past AND present. They exist in time. The images can help shape society, just as much as textbooks inform schoolchildren.
So let’s talk about the “primacy of the text”. Are texts more reliable? If you think you get the “real history” or “truth” from texts, then I would suggest you aren’t thinking critically of the texts, either. Texts are just as much a product of their time as images. What do we learn from history books? Well, often propaganda. We learn that Columbus was an entrepreneur and enterprising venture capitalist (this of course suits our worship of enterprises in pursuit of money. It is no surprise this is the line that is emphasized in school.) That he “discovered” areas that were, shall we say, not in need of “discovery”. We learn less often of his genocide and mass rapes, and other atrocities. So do material culture experts disparage the very idea of learning information from books? Of course not, we suggest those books be REPLACED by more accurate ones.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/26/20829771/slavery-textbooks-history
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/slavery-american-schools.html
Another point about these school books is that in context, they are only used in that one classroom, in that one grade level, etc. Students who learn from that text, once, in one unit, may come outside and see a statue of Columbus in the town square, sending the same message of what we value, EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. The problem with the textbooks telling a misleading narrative and lying by omission is that it is a systemic problem, and a systemic narrative. The statues embody and state that systemic message, in public every single day.
See this short film that examines how images affect our lives, in real time, as we live them, and grow up around images of racists.
Don’t tell me statues don’t produce their own historia, a narrative, not just about the past, but about who we are now. They definitely do. If you’re not careful, these messages are subliminal.
So how does art teach us? In the field of art history we refer to “didactic art”, as art that is explicitly constructed for the function of teaching. Art that is not conceived of to be didactic may also impart a plethora of information, regardless. Statues in town squares and the center of college campuses are indeed on the “didactic” end of the continuum. They are erected to present a narrative.
https://www.artforum.com/print/196704/the-value-of-didactic-art-36733
https://www.britannica.com/art/didacticism
In American society today, one of our great tragedies is the lack of visual education at the primary and secondary levels. What you devalue will still affect you, while you’re not paying attention. Whether you notice the white supremacist statue in your town square or not, it will have an unconscious affect. Advertisers and propagandists indeed depend on people not understanding their own visceral reactions to imagery. The less we know about visuals, the easier we are to manipulate. This is not an area we want to cede to the right-wing.
Even Simon Schama, an historian who has written and hosted many art programs, (including one literally called “The Power of Art”), has written an ill-thought out drivelly screed asserting that images teach us nothing, and have no power of their own. Quixotically, he shows us an incredibly powerful image of the Lincoln Memorial in DC, staring gravelly down at the Lilliputian overly armed police officers like an angry Zeus on his throne, then Schama opines that the image only gets its power from us having the Gettysburg address in mind. Well, outside knowledge and evidence may add other layers of understanding, but the image shouts out a message of its own. The strength and colossal scale of that statue framed by its own temple-like structure elevates Lincoln to god status. You don’t even have to know Lincoln’s name to feel the import of the monument. His assertion is ridiculous, as if to say “ignore the evidence of your own eyes”.
We can refute the necessity of holding onto these racist symbols as “history”, or “tradition” in better ways than denying that a majority of our historical evidence comes from the material record! These comments, for example, understand the power of material and artistic evidence while annihilating that false premise that racist statues are needed for their precious information. (Pssst: their main message as received today is that *this. is. a. white. supremacist. society.*)
The Ozymandias poem, quoted at the top, describes the attaining the knowledge of a cruel autocrat of the past from his image alone. His rule, apart from his fragmentary image, resides in oblivion in the context of the poem.
So, indeed, images are crucial to understanding our world, our past history, and our historical present. These statues speak volumes. “An image is worth 1,000 words”, is an adage we should perhaps embrace, trite as it is, as we move forward. The statues being taken down identify, in no uncertain terms, our society as A WHITE SUPREMACIST SOCIETY. Here and now. In order to change our society, the statues MUST come down. Let’s take public art more seriously, not less, and honor the struggle for freedom.
This great Twitter thread from 2017 shows a world of art that can tell other sides of our history.
And I leave you to contemplate the power of public art to inform and create community with this twitter thread showing the public paintings created immediately in the wake of the Minneapolis uprisings.
https://twitter.com/ziibiing/status/1268733552172118016
Don’t undervalue art as an educational device, or as historical evidence. Let’s build a better society that values what art has to offer, and understands all our historical evidence better.
-Marina Haworth
