I recently attended a preview of a new piece of work by Louise Jordan. At the end of the piece we, the audience, were asked who we thought should be preserved as a statue. That was five weeks ago, and I still don’t have an answer.
This is partly because the performance has really got me thinking. We were challenged about our own knowledge and our own views of the history we were taught. I enjoyed history at school, I am a National Trust member, who enjoys nothing more than wondering around old buildings and soaking up their past, I also manage heritage projects for a living. But I have certainly been guilty of not knowing the whole story, of accepting what I am being told, whether by a teacher, information board, TV programme or tour guide.
When the statue of Colston was toppled in 2020 I observed so many different reactions from it being the right thing to do, to people feeling like history was being rewritten. It made me think that there are going to be lots of people from our history who we do not know everything about. We get the good stuff, but the shady past is untold. This is why I can’t think of anyone who I would make a statue out of. There are lots of people who I admire, from history and present day, but they aren’t perfect. I am starting to look at the whole story and see those stories from everyone’s point of view.
What I loved about the piece that Louise and her team presented was that it goes beyond a statue, it explains a whole person, their story. It challenges our views of history, what we have learnt, what we have chosen to ignore or were never told.
I am starting to think all statues should have a way of animating them. It could be a performance, an app that gives you the story or some other way of giving us more information.
So, who would you put on a pedestal?
