The Monument Project is a conversation of photos and words about prominent structures in our midst that want to tell our stories.

Monuments promote a narrative view of history intended to memorialize, invoke power and identity, and, perhaps, celebrate achievement. Their existence in public space places a stamp of permanence upon the cultural expectations of the era during which they were installed. They instruct us in what is worthy of our collective passion, and manifest our sense of collective loss.

But how can we assess the values imposed by these powerful narratives, and what do they tell us about that which has been lost? What losses, finally, does a monument obscure?

Photographer Jeff Tamblyn and poet Elizabeth G. Howard explore the negative spaces that monuments create, including the frameworks of community purpose they undergird, the human qualities they revere, and the social pathways they barricade.

Please, no use or reprinting without our express, written permission.

look up!

remember

too late already

we’ve forgotten

or forgotten to remember

that it mattered, one life

on top of another, on top of

another

another mother shrugs

I suppose it was worth it

the cause was all, so

all is forgiven

as long as we remember

• Elizabeth G. Howard

here come the flags furled and

folded — do this

take this

my body do this

in memory of

look up! another cenotaph squared off

made right, dropped like

a blockbuster at Whitehall

so no one who matters

can miss it

• Elizabeth G. Howard