Haunting Kara Walker Sculpture Headlines MOCA’s New Exhibition

Sports October 25, 2025 0 Comments

Haunting Kara Walker Sculpture Headlines MOCA’s New Exhibition

Kara Walker, “Drone,” 2023. Commissioned by The Brick, courtesy of artist Wasikima Malloy Jenkins. (Photo: Ruben Diaz)

In 1921, an equestrian statue of “Stonewall” Jackson was unveiled next to the Albemarle County Courthouse in Charlottesville, Virginia. A century later, in 2021, it became the Confederate Memorial He overthrew It was then given to the world-famous artist Kara Walker. She was commissioned to reimagine the 13-foot statue, turning its original legend into a searing examination of American history. And now the final product has been revealed.

Headlines Mocha and Bricklatest gallery, antiquitiesWalker Drone It is something of an illusion. The statue is distorted, with human limbs and horse limbs arranged in a confusing and frightening scene. Despite its dissection and modification, Drone It remains readable, and weaves an entirely new fate for a Confederate soldier. In Walker’s performance, Jackson does not head into battle, but rather sits atop his horse while valiantly sticking out his chest. He was even decapitated, dragging himself through a strange purgatory with his centaur-like legs. Beside him, his sword dangles on the ground, a visual reminder of the status he once held and has since lost.

Walker has long been fascinated by themes of racial identity, especially in the context of the Civil War era in the American South. DroneHowever, this may be the artist’s most ambitious foray into the subject, seeing her literally dissecting a historical monument of white supremacy. This weight was not lost on Walker, who commented on the importance of the massacre in her creative process.

“I read about (Jackson’s) horse, which is a major part of the dynamic of the piece,” Walker said in an interview with Hamza Walker, director of The Brick. “I was thinking that, in some ways, this act of retrieving the statue required an act of carnage.”

Drone It is as much slaughter as it is correction. As Walker noted during a preview of antiquitiesThe creation of the statue has provided a space to reflect on such Confederate statues and the power, values and myths they have carried throughout history — and in turn, a moment to redefine all of that. “I think there’s a therapeutic aspect to doing this show.” He said.

This is exactly the orientation of the thesis antiquitieswhich brings together 10 decommissioned monuments with existing and newly commissioned works by 19 contemporary artists. The exhibition, which has been in development since 2017, addresses how contested objects are viewed today, while also exploring the functions of monuments in the past, present and future.

“Encountering the monuments inside — removed from their pedestals, some bearing traces of protest, and installed among contemporary works — provides a significant shift in the context of the objects,” Bennett Simpson, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s chief curator, said in a statement. “We believe it is important to talk openly about their conditions and intended function. We have viewed our mission-driven organizations as good sites for the mission—to address changes in both contemporary aesthetics and historical memory.”

antiquities Now on view at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA until May 3, 2026. Learn more about Drone And the exhibition is across MOCA website.

with DroneKara Walker unveils a haunting and poignant reimagining of the deposed Confederate monument.

kara-walker-unmanned-drone-monuments-exhibition-moca-01 Haunting Kara Walker Sculpture Headlines MOCA’s New Exhibition

(Left) Stonewall Jackson statue by Charles Keck (1875–1956); (Right) “Drone” by Kara Walker (b. 1969) (Photo: Ruben Diaz)

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“Drone” 2023. (Photo: Ruben Diaz)

Kara-Walker-Monuments-MOCA-Exhibition-2-scaled Haunting Kara Walker Sculpture Headlines MOCA’s New Exhibition

“Drone” 2023. (Photo: Ruben Diaz)

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“Drone” 2023. (Photo: Ruben Diaz)