Lee Monument Ranked #1 Most Influential Work of Protest Art by NYT Style Magazine

It’s impossible to walk up to the Lee Monument and not feel emotions. It is a living, constantly changing community art project that is a reflection of the times we are living in.

NYT Style Magazine has this to say in part:

Over the past several months, activists have transformed the base of the sculpture instead, covering the marble and granite with the names of victims of police violence, protest chants, calls for compassion, revolutionary symbols and anti-police slogans in dozens of colors. New phrases continually appear, adding to the kaleidoscopic display of communal, collective action. People who once avoided the statue now make pilgrimages to see what has become an emblem of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as a newly diverse public gathering space. The statue and its surrounding lawn are now the site of barbecues, music and dance performances, family get-togethers, voter registration tents, photo shoots, board games, basketball hoops and religious services, as well as ongoing demonstrations, encampments and candlelight vigils.

See some of our photos of the Lee Monument here, here, and here. Photos of other confederate monuments coming down Jackson here, Soldiers and Sailors here, Jefferson Davis here, and Stuart here (Skater Protest at Stuart).

The fate of the monument is still in the air. There is an excellent thread here that summarizes where we’re at when it comes to Lee’s removal.