What is monumental and how do we decide what to commemorate and why? In a two-day workshop with writer Maurice Tracy, participants will explore the Monumentale exhibition and engage with the work of artist Barbara Chase Riboud. You will discuss the work’s impact and then apply some of the artist’s techniques with bronze and fabric to language and our lives. At the end of this workshop you will leave with your own monument that you sculpt and create on the page.
Tracy notes, “Monuments are as much about memory and creating a narrative as the family stories we pass down through generations. One could say that monuments are the public’s way of signaling that the story behind the sculpture is important. Barbara Chase-Riboud’s work is charged at every turn: there are aspects easily read, but also parts that are hidden, unknowable; the pieces demand attention with their size and scale but are surprisingly light and delicate; the soft silks and cottons that seem to hang against the hard bronze have been placed deliberately, pulling your gaze in particular directions. Writing can do similar work.”
Maurice Tracy is a fat black queer individual living, laughing, and loving in St Louis unapologetically. Their work blends academic writing and poetic/lyrical writing and focuses on the intersections of race, sexuality, the body, and desire. Their work can be found on Neon Hemlock, PSA, and The Tenth Magazine.
