{"id":468,"date":"2022-11-23T08:58:59","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T13:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/?p=468"},"modified":"2022-11-23T08:59:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T13:59:23","slug":"new-monuments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/2022\/11\/23\/new-monuments\/","title":{"rendered":"New Monuments:"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/ago.ca\/agoinsider\/sculptures-about-statues<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thomas J\u00a0Price.\u00a0Within the Folds (Dialogue I),<\/em>\u00a02020. Cast silicon\u00a0bronze, Overall: 274.3 \u00d7 68.6 \u00d7 68.6 cm. Private Collection. \u00a9 Thomas J. Price. Installation view, Dundas and McCaul. Photo \u00a9 AGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

AGOinsider: <\/strong>Many have considered your large-scale public works to be perfect replacements for some of the recently toppled colonial statues across the globe. How do you feel about this assertion? Did you ever think of these works as a type of monument?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TJP: <\/strong>I think of my figurative works as \u2018sculptures about statues\u2019. I wanted the work to make people aware of why monuments are built, what narratives are they trying to maintain? Who does that serve? Whilst it\u2019s true that since 2020 the public has become far more conscious of the monuments that stand above them, it\u2019s often been followed by a desire to simply replace individuals from history with different individuals from history. Whilst I do think that awareness of the full spectrum of contributions from within society is a very good thing, I don\u2019t want to end up reinforcing a hierarchical system that is designed from the ground up to maintain the status quo in terms of power and privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGOinsider: What\u2019s next for you and your practice? Are there any works in progress or upcoming projects you are excited about that you can share with us?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TJP: <\/strong>I\u2019m working on various new bodies of work and have a good number of upcoming projects planned, but the one I\u2019m really getting excited about (and can talk about) is my Windrush commission by Hackney Council in east London, U.K. I\u2019m making two nine-foot amalgam bronze figures based on individuals in the borough who have connections to the Windrush immigration from the Caribbean of 1948. I\u2019m half Jamaican and so it\u2019s a huge honour to be making contemporary works connected to not only my own story, but to the lives of so many people in the U.K. and beyond. The sculptures will be publicly installed in the square outside Hackney town hall, it will be amazing to see them there as part of the fabric of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the Folds (Dialogue 1)\u00a0<\/em>is on view now outside of the AGO on the corner of Dundas and McCaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life of a Craphead: KING EDWARD VII EQUESTRIAN STATUE FLOATING DOWN THE DON<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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https:\/\/donrivervalleypark.ca\/things-to-do\/art\/life-of-a-craphead-king-edward-vii-equestrian-statue-floating-down-the-don\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Oct\u2013Nov 2017, performance artists Life of a Craphead gave a series of performances in which they dropped a life-size replica statue of King Edward VII into the Lower Don River. The sculpture floated down the river between Riverdale Park and Queen Street before it was retrieved for its next journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Queen\u2019s Park, Toronto, sits a 15-foot bronze equestrian statue of King Edward VII. The statue was originally erected in Delhi, India in 1922 to commemorate King Edward VII\u2019s historic role as the Emperor of India. After independence in India, the statue was removed, to be destroyed; years later a prominent Toronto resident and art collector brought the statue to Toronto in appreciation of its craftsmanship. It was placed in Queen\u2019s Park in 1969 despite public outcry and criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life of a Craphead\u2019s project explored\u00a0the histories and decisions that continue to shape Toronto\u2019s public space and public art. Their performance created the illusion that this statue had\u00a0been \u201cdumped\u201d in the Don River. With both humour and a sharp critical eye, the project addressed\u00a0the persistence of power as it manifests in public art and public monuments \u2013 symbols that are often preserved\u00a0in perpetuity, even when the stories we want to celebrate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Queen\u2019s Park, Toronto, there is a 15-foot bronze sculpture of King Edward VII on a horse, first erected in colonial India in 1922. Following India\u2019s independence in 1947, it was removed and placed in storage. A prominent Toronto businessman and politician heard of its existence and paid for it to be moved to Toronto, citing his desire for a \u201cgreat equestrian statue.\u201d Despite protests from the public, the statue was placed in Queen\u2019s Park in 1969. The statue still bears the original colonial plaque stating that the statue of the British King is of \u201cThe Emperor of India.\u201d This is a performance where we dumped a life-size replica of the sculpture in the Don and it floated down the river for 4 weeks in October-November 2017.
For the Don River Valley Park<\/a>, curated by Kari Cwynar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/ago.ca\/agoinsider\/sculptures-about-statues AGOinsider: Many have considered your large-scale public works to be perfect replacements for some of the recently toppled colonial statues across the globe. How do you feel about this assertion? Did you ever think of these works as a type of monument? TJP: I think of my figurative works as \u2018sculptures about statues\u2019. I wanted the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}