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Going Up, Coming Down
Jul. 2nd, 2021 09:29 amIf Princess Diana's sons choose to erect a statue of her in the grounds of Kensington Palace it's really none of my business. Kensington Palace is not somewhere I frequent so I'm unlikely to ever encounter it in actuality. For what it's worth- and judging by the pictures I've seen in the media- I think its really rather dull. Not hideous, not incompetent, not something to get excited about, just dull.
We're not very good at memorial statues these days, but we keep on perpetrating them. I think it's a foolish habit- and one we'd break if we were prepared to think things through.
Because...
If people are worth remembering they'll be remembered and if they aren't they won't be- and statues have little bearing on the matter. Our public spaces are littered with bronze and marble representations of people who are of no interest except to specialist historians- few of which have any great merit as art.
And, of course, some of them represent people of whom we no longer approve- in which case they become a standing offence- and need to come down.
In Manitoba they've just toppled statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II as a protest against the genocidal policies of Canada's colonial rulers. This is something of which I wholly approve.
We're not very good at memorial statues these days, but we keep on perpetrating them. I think it's a foolish habit- and one we'd break if we were prepared to think things through.
Because...
If people are worth remembering they'll be remembered and if they aren't they won't be- and statues have little bearing on the matter. Our public spaces are littered with bronze and marble representations of people who are of no interest except to specialist historians- few of which have any great merit as art.
And, of course, some of them represent people of whom we no longer approve- in which case they become a standing offence- and need to come down.
In Manitoba they've just toppled statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II as a protest against the genocidal policies of Canada's colonial rulers. This is something of which I wholly approve.
