Monument to the Removal of the Emancipation Memorial

Boston, Massachusetts

Monument to the Removal of the Emancipation Memorial is a proposed permanent intervention for the empty granite pedestal in Boston's Park Square, where Thomas Ball's Emancipation Group stood until its removal in December 2020. Widely criticized for its imagery of a shirtless enslaved man kneeling before President Lincoln, the statue was taken down following a community campaign that gathered over 12,000 signatures. The pedestal remains empty.

The design centers on a crane coiling around the existing base, from which an abstracted mass hangs suspended, evoking the removed statue group without reproducing its imagery. In plan, the spiral of the crane reflects the idea that the work of dismantling harmful symbols is ongoing and unfinished. The suspended mass makes the precariousness of that progress visible: the statue has been lifted, but the achievement remains in the balance, and the community must continue to act to ensure that symbols of racism and inequality do not return.

Pictured: Axonometric line drawing, Monument to the Removal of the Emancipation Memorial