Hello, my name is Charles Athanasopoulos, and I am a PhD student in the Department of Communication. I am currently completing a summer immersive fellowship with Monument Lab. Monument Lab is an independent public art and history studio based in Philadelphia that is dedicated to challenging racist/hetero-patriarchal monuments and producing alternate visions of cities and their public art. I was interested in pursuing a summer immersive fellowship with Monument Lab due to my academic research surrounding iconography and its relationship to (anti-)Black rhetoric(s). My hope was that being able to work closely with artists engaged in a public arena would allow me both to gain a more nuanced understanding of public art that would inform my writing and use this experience as an opportunity to develop writing skills geared toward cultivating a public audience.

I am currently working on three major projects with Monument Lab. First, I am currently working with artist Marisa Williamson, who is known for producing public art projects related to anti-Black slavery and the struggle for freedom. Specifically, I am assisting her on the creation of a new variation of a project which she debuted in Philadelphia in 2017 titled “Sweet Chariot.” In this version of Sweet Chariot, audiences will be taken on an augmented-reality scavenger hunt in Charlottesville, VA, led by Sally Hemings (performed by Marisa Williamson), who is searching for her final resting place. Along the way, audiences will interact with the city’s landscape and monuments and uncover alternative histories that demonstrate how the past of slavery is still very much present. Second, I am researching public art works funded by Confederate Legacy groups as a means of uncovering how the architecture of a city can be read as a product and extension of racial hierarchy.

In addition to assisting Monument Lab with the creation of new performance art and a digital archive, Monument Lab accepted a proposal I produced concerning the emergence of public art in support of Black Lives Matter in the wake of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests. Thus, I have begun a third project that includes archiving emerging street art, writing a series of essays concerning iconography and Black Lives Matter, and potentially conducting interviews with scholars and artists. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Monument Lab so far, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with this organization in the future.

For my reflections post-immersive, please see Monument Lab and Monumental Learning: Iconography and Public Art.

Learn about all the Summer 2020 Immersive Fellows and their experiences with their host organizations.