CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – The Stonewall Jackson statue, once a prominent fixture in Charlottesville’s Court Square, has resurfaced dramatically transformed and almost unrecognizable. The Confederate monument is now the centerpiece of a new art exhibit open in Los Angeles focused on white supremacist monuments.
The Stonewall Jackson statue in Charlottesville’s Court Square Park.(WVIR)
American artist Kara Walker has taken what once stood in Downtown Charlottesville and repurposed it into a powerful statement.
The curator of the exhibit describes the remade statue, titled “Unmanned Drone,” as a “monument to the horror of American white supremacy.” This theme arguably gained renewed national attention following the events that unfolded in Downtown Charlottesville in August 2017.
Unmanned Drone, Kara Walker(©Ruben Diaz 2025 | Ruben Diaz)
After a series of legal battles, both the Jackson and Robert E. Lee statues were removed four years later.
While the Lee statue was melted down, the Jackson statue underwent a drastic change. In the words of the new L.A. exhibit’s co-curator, it was “butchered” and then reassembled.
Walker believes there is a healing aspect to presenting this show, offering a new perspective on these symbols of a divisive past.
Unmanned Drone, Kara Walker(©Ruben Diaz 2025 | Ruben Diaz)
Unmanned Drone, Kara Walker(©Ruben Diaz 2025 | Ruben Diaz)
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