Bronze Heroes & Plastic Memories:
Questioning the relevance of statues as memorials using the Anti-Monument on the Three Dikgosi Monument
This design project focuses on questioning the relevance of statues as memorials in post-colonial Gaborone in Botswana and questions the use of bronze statues as a way of memorialisation in this context. I believe the use of statues in memorialisation shows that colonialism is still embedded in the very way we commemorate which affects how these memorial spaces are perceived.
The ‘Anti Monument’ is one that intentionally challenges every principle of a traditional monument. This project proposes to counter conventional methods of memorial design- specifically statues and aims to create a more context specific and meaningful way of memorialising in the urban fabric of Gaborone. This is done by countering each of the principles of urban monument design that include scale, orientation, proportion and materiality.
Through exploring the notion of “Controlled Vandalism”, the current statues are carefully taken apart from their base, moved North and partially submerged into an earth mound which is the main feature of the proposed intervention with their busts exposed and re-dressed in each traditional Kgosi chief’s attire. The intention of submerging the statues is to carefully create the Anti- Monument by manipulating the space around these statues and not necessarily altering the bronze edifice itself.
A new ritual is introduced where during Independence Day celebrations people will have a procession beginning from the Segoditshane River North of the site and carry some sand from there which will be placed atop the mound hence eventually burying these statues and erasing them from the landscape which I estimate to take place in 2063. Through this active act of remembrance, this act gives power to the community to claim not only their landscape back, but also their narrative and purpose back through actively erasing colonial ways of memorialisation, which do not speak to the future landscape of memory in Botswana.
