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A portrait of George Floyd was projected onto the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in June. With several Confederate statues removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, the governor is now asking the state to fund the creation of a more inclusive public space.
Two equestrian statues were thrust back into news headlines this past weekend following Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s announcement that he plans to repurpose a stretch of valuable public space in Richmond, the state’s capital.
One statue is a tribute to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, whose image is the last remaining piece of Confederate iconography left standing on Richmond’s famous Monument Avenue. The Lee statue was erected in 1890. The other statue features an unidentified Black man in modern urban attire astride a muscular horse. Entitled Rumors of War, it’s the work of artist Kehinde Wiley and was erected in 2019 in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), about two miles from the Lee statue.
Northam made it clear in Friday’s announcement that he intends to remove Lee from his public perch, while exploring ways to erect more diverse art like that represented by Wiley’s creation. He’s requesting $10 million in next year’s state budget—with hopes to leverage millions more in private donations—to reimagine public art and creative storytelling on the famous avenue. The long-term goal is...
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