Paper Monuments was a public art and history project that asked New Orleanians to imagine new monuments for the city. Paper Monuments began after the removal of four Confederate monuments across New Orleans, whose dethroning was accomplished by decades of Black activist energy and contemporary agitation by the Take ‘Em Down NOLA Coalition. For two years Paper Monuments collaborated with local artists, historians, activists, and storytellers to bring to life untold historical narratives from New Orleans’ past.
The Paper Monuments team included co-directors Sue Mobley and Bryan Lee, as well as Chris Daemmrich, Brit Lindsey, Shoshana Gordon, Nic Brierre Aziz, Katie Wills, Isabella Siegel, Colin Fredrickson.
Learn more at www.papermonuments.org
Posters
We reached out to some of New Orleans’ greatest activists, historians, storytellers, and artists to create a poster series that honors the untold narratives of New Orleans history. These are stories that have helped define the city we know today: Black and Brown histories, LGBTQIA+ histories, women’s histories, working class histories, collective histories. We distributed these posters at libraries, events, and bookstores across New Orleans and installed them large-scale along the Canal St. corridor.
Public Proposals
Over the course of the project, we gathered nearly 1200 proposals for new monuments from New Orleans residents. What stories should be told in our public spaces and who should they represent? Should we have monuments to individuals or movements and concepts?
