The famous “Stonewall Jackson” statue that was previously displayed in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been transformed into a “monstrous mutant” statue intended to push back against “white supremacy.”
According to The Post Millennial, the iconic statue of Stonewall Jackson on his horse was removed from Charlottesville in 2021 after the city council voted to remove the statue in February of 2017. The outlet noted that the statue of the famous Confederate general had been featured in the historic district of Charlottesville since 1921.
The Post Millennial reported that following the removal of the iconic statue in 2021, the statue was donated to The Brick, an art center in Los Angeles. According to VIA Art Fund, a non-profit organization that sponsors art projects, the city donated Confederate statues in an effort to reveal “their history as symbols of white supremacy.”
According to The Post Millennial, the “Stonewall Jackson” statue was later disassembled and transformed into the “Unmanned Drone” statue by Kara Walker, an American painter who creates art in an effort to highlight the impacts of slavery.
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A statement on VIA Art Fund’s website lists “Unmanned Drone” as part of the “MONUMENTS” art exhibit co-organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and The Brick. A review by the Los Angeles Times claims that the “MONUMENTS” art exhibit is the “most significant American art museum show right now” and suggests that the exhibit “topples white supremacy.”
VIA Art Fund’s website states, “In 2021, The Brick (formerly LAXART) acquired an equestrian monument depicting Confederate general Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson and its accompanying base from the city of Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville hoped that by giving the monuments to organizations, they would explicitly reveal ‘their history as symbols of white supremacy.'”
“In order to fully and unequivocally confront the Lost Cause mythology, The Brick has commissioned Kara Walker, whose practice has long engaged American history and the legacy of slavery, to create a new work using this monument as material,” the website adds.
The Los Angeles Times’s review of the “Unmanned Drone” statue described it as a “monstrous mutant” and a “brilliant sculpture” that serves as a “metaphor for obtuse white supremacy.”
A picture of the “Stonewall Jackson” statue contrasted with a picture of the new “Unmanned Drone” statue in Los Angeles has been shared on X, formerly Twitter.
