FORWARD: Issue #7: Monuments & Memorials

From the Guest Editor

Monumental Shifts

FORWARD's fifth Guest Editor is Claire Flanegin of New Monuments Taskforce (NMTF). Flanegin is passionate about using her public history background to interrogate public spaces and their representation of the communities around them. Her work with NMTF allows her to use historical research to create cultural power and uplift stories that have historically been ignored.

Read Flanegin's Essay

Featured Essay

A Case for Destruction Goodbye, Robert. E Lee

By Cheyenne Concepcion

The founder of New Monuments Taskforce, Concepcion is a Filipino American artist and designer whose work explores how architecture, politics, history, and aesthetics shape place across a wide range of media including sculpture, design, social practice, and public art. By shining a light on the stories of the people and places that have been overlooked, Concepcion uses her work to engage ideas of cultural memory, migration, and the built environment.

Read Concepcion's Essay

Case Studies

How artists are already shifting the field of monuments and memorials

Toolkit

Resources for making connections across sectors and working creatively in the monuments & memorials sector

With a creative dream job description from Indigenous, nonbinary, and fat artist, educator, and bachata dancer Sen Mendez.

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View Dream Job

Public Art Now

Leading voices sharing public art of the moment

Five works creating impact through engaging history, storytelling, and collective memory.

Guest curated by Anna Lisa Escobedo of New Monuments Taskforce. A versatile artist who produces moments of community engagement, her primary goals include supporting artists and fostering the vibrancy of the arts and culture ecosystem in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Browse Escobedo's Collection

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FORWARD Team

Publisher Theresa Sweetland

Project Manager Jen Dolen

Guest Editor Claire Flanegin

Curator of Partnerships & Programming Mallory Rukhsana Nezam

Public Art Now Guest Curator Anna Lisa Escobedo

Contributing Writer Geraldine Slevin

Senior Editor Jon Spayde

Copy Editor Loma Huh

Forecast Consulting Advisor Jen Krava

Layout Fred Pirlot

Accounting Shauna Dee

Sensitivity Reader Boo McCaleb

Image: From this issue's Public Art Now collection, Little Amal is a 12-foot-tall puppet that represents a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child. Since July 2021, Amal has visited over 166 cities, towns, and villages. In this March 30, 2023 photo, Amal is surrounded by orange origami boats in front of Brighton West Pier. Photo by Andy Li / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

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