DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — At the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles, nearly a dozen decommissioned monuments, many of them confederate, now sit inside gallery walls far from the public parks and streets they once stood.
“We’re often told that American history needs to be a certain way or should be a certain way. That we need to talk about this, but not talk about that, that we need to feel one way and not another way, so we don’t think that’s the case. We wanted to put our faith in artists to show us new things about history,” MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson said.
Some pieces remain untouched, others remain splattered with paint just as they were after being pulled down during protests, a reminder that Americans’ debate over monuments is far from settled.
“We’re still talking about the 14th amendment, about who has rights and who doesn’t have rights. We’re talking about due process, who gets due process, who doesn’t get due process. These are things that still go on in this country… I’m not trying to make anyone come, but I think there’s a lot to learn here,” Simpson said.
The exhibition pairs monuments like Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson with contemporary art and challenges the observer to view history differently.
These monuments are on display now through May 2026.
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