Boston Launches Project Reimagining Who Is Memorialized

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Monuments in Boston are evolving as the city asks big questions about who is honored and memorialized. A $3 million multi-year grant from the Mellon Foundation is supporting this change, and the contributions of more than 50 artists who are experimenting with monumental ideas that include theater, murals, music, and community conversation. The new city program is called Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument. {snip}

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Among the more than 30 projects to be funded is Roberto Mighty’s called “We Were Here Too.” Its aim is to resurrect the memory of those who lived in a historic black community that once existed in the North End known as “New Guinea.” Visitors will use QR codes as they enter the cemetery and find videos, court documents, images and poetry. Whenever he walks into a cemetery, he looks for the outsiders.

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Curatorial partners were brought together from all across the city to commission temporary monuments in unique ways. Funding will include research and development grants so artists can prepare proposals for the next round of monuments planned for display in 2025. Organization will host conversations that interrogate issues such as reimaging safety in Chinatown at the Pao Arts Center, or questions of violence and rediscovery, according to Barry Gaither, director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists.

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Artist Erin Genia served as a member of the “Un-monument” advisory board. She also previously served as an artist-in-residence in the city of Boston at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was around that time the city declared racism a public health emergency. As part of her time with the Office of Emergency Management, Genia organized a series of panels called, “Confronting Colonial Myths in Boston’s Public Space” examining the city’s monuments.

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The program’s projects include temporary sculptural installations, murals, new media and theater. A large Mayan pyramid that speaks to the contributions of immigrants is in the works, along with live painting by graffiti artists and pieces about the Indigenous experience. President Jean-Luc Pierite of the North American Indian Center co-curated several public arts works.

“What we’re looking for right now is definitely opportunities to memorialize the Indigenous perspective of the past few centuries, but also give our communities the opportunity to imagine themselves projected into the future,” Pierite said.

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