Behind the Lens: ‘The Monuments’ With Sanjay Suchak

Join the Karsh Institute of Democracy and UVA Library for a guided tour of "The Monuments: Who Should Shape Public Space?"—a new photography exhibition led by photographer Sanjay Suchak.

Beginning in 2020, communities across Virginia removed dozens of Confederate monuments that had stood for generations. The process continued this year with the removal of the remaining Confederate monuments from Virginia’s Capitol Square. The removals were supported by many and opposed by others, and decisions about the monuments unfolded through public debate, elected bodies, and at times, direct action. Communities across the Commonwealth continue to grapple with their legacy.

Suchak, a former Karsh Institute Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, documented many of these removals as they happened—from the Jefferson Davis Monument in Richmond to the final departure of statues from the heart of Charlottesville. Alongside Suchak’s photographs, a timeline traces the monuments from their installation in the decades after the Civil War through the debates, protests, government decisions and legal challenges that preceded their removal more than a century later.

Walk through the exhibition with Suchak and hear the stories behind his photographs, then stay for lunch and an open conversation about the questions at the heart of the exhibition: Who should shape public space, and how should people and events be memorialized going forward?

Lunch provided to registered attendees.