ABSTRACT
Located at the heart of what was once the capital of the Confederate States of America, Monument Avenue is ‘Virginia’s place to be recognized by Virginians’. For over a century the Richmond street’s commemorative art paid homage to those labelled ‘heroes’ of the Confederacy, normalising and sanctioning a white, masculine, martial dominance that became increasingly incongruous with the city’s demographics. In 1996, the hotly contested addition of a statue of native Richmonder Arthur Ashe, an African American tennis champion, challenged the avenue’s master narrative. This project addresses the micro-geographies involved in the debate over where and how to site the Ashe statue and its perceived effects on Richmond’s commodifiable sense of self.
