No More Monument

The tradition of equestrian monuments began in antiquity, when triumphant war heroes on horseback were immortalized in bronze or marble sculptures.  Grandiose by design, these patriotic images were often placed at the center of public places.  You can find several scattered throughout Philadelphia. 

Judith Shea's No More Monument gives these conventional representations some unusual twists.  Unlike traditional monuments of enduring metal and stone, Shea's horse and rider are made of pine, a humble and mundane material.  The wood's rough, unpainted surface and random knots convey an impression of vulnerability, an unheroic trait.

The artist's decision to leave the rider unclothed underscores his mortality, and his body language communicates frailty and fatigue.  Although some have interpreted him as symbolizing our indigenous population, his indeterminate ethnicity offers a more universal reading.  Shea herself refers to the work as an "ironic" monument that explores “the underside of heroism, the vulnerability of human endeavor."  As such, No More Monument prods us to consider just who are the heroes of our own time.