When Statues Fall

“When Statues Fall” is project that aims to explore Western processes of fabrication of an imaginary field of the heroic during past and contemporary history both in the physical and the digital realm of visual representation.

The series navigates the tensions between the permanent and the transitional, disruption and creation, the virtual and the physical, the ephemeral and the archival. Comparing and playing with these contrasting concepts, the artwork wishes to investigate models of collective memory around the civilising hero’s figure that records stored in the digital archive’s collections and AI-generated images from text, do they imply and suggest, unveiling the complexities of Western constructed heroic imaginings. 

The inspiration for this work mainly emerged from observing the global acts of toppling public monuments over the past years, prompting reflections on monuments as attempts to ideologically and physically secure territories and spaces. Most of all, I was deeply captured by the descendant movement of these objects of power: a curving trajectory that led to disintegration (physical and metaphorical); the symbolic fall which is a universal motif that transcends historical periods and geographic boundaries. Employing a diverse array of visual elements, from staged photography, digital archives, AI-generated images, video, installation and sculptures the project exposes questions around collective phenomena of fantastic projection and imaginative investment that seems to shape our collective understanding of heroism. The series aims not only to capture the essence of this symbolic descent but also to prompt a broader reflection on themes of deconstruction, transformation, and the complex relationship between power, memory, and cultural identity.