School of Health & Wellbeing

Monuments for the Present is a participatory action research project co-created by the creative initiative Monuments for Equality (Paria Goodarzi, Mia Gubbay and Francesca Zappia) and Beauty Osayomwanbor Nosa, Inna Hordiiko, Mehri Abdi, Rezvan Faghani, Sara Abdelnasser, Shahid Mahmood, Sadaf Syeda, Tanisha Sarkar, Tara Gomary, Tomilola Owolabi, Valentina Vodolazska and Valentyna Dolottseva from the Maryhill Integration Network Museum of Things Art Group.

 

Image caption

Monuments for the Present - Collage

Inna Hordiiko

2023

Photo: Paria Goodarzi

 

 

The project came together through collaborative dialogue and artistic creation that has unfolded over the past nine months through a series of thinking-through-making workshops. In recent years, public monuments in the UK have been the focus of debate and actions that have questioned dominant narratives of national identity that glorify violent imperialist extraction and white supremacy. The complex power struggles around these contested sites have made room for new forms of representation within the public realm.

 

Monuments for the Present presents works created with different media and techniques, such as videos, collages and monuments made with the soap. These forms disrupt values intrinsic to traditional Western European monuments, providing space to re-imagine them as platforms for the diverse voices that make up Glasgow's social fabric.

 

Presented as part of two exhibitions and a public art project at the CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts, Byres Community Hub / School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, and billboards located across the city during Glasgow International, Refugee Scotland, and CCA Common Ground festivals 7-23 June 2024.

 

Supported by Glasgow International, Maryhill Integration Network, CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts, Byres Community Hub, See Me, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Refugee Festival Scotland, and JACK ARTS Scotland, part of the BUILDHOLLYWOOD family.

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First published: 15 April 2024