Memorials Now

A comprehensive guide to addressing the present-day challenges of commemorating the past

As debates over historical monuments and their meanings unfold, Memorials Now offers a critical exploration of how communities can navigate the complex terrain of commemorative practices. From controversial statues to emerging forms of public memory, the topics covered in this timely volume provide insights into historical challenges while also encouraging a more inclusive and just memorial landscape for the future.

Authors Cher Krause Knight and Harriet F. Senie explore evolving narratives of heroes and victims, ethical challenges of memorial design, strategies for promoting inclusivity, and possibilities for alternative forms of commemoration. Memorials Now analyzes case studies from around the world in which communities are rethinking their memorials and creating innovative memorialization projects that reflect shifting cultural values.

Memorials Now is ideal for students and educators in art history, architecture, urban planning, and cultural studies, as well as professionals in fields such as public art, city planning, museum curation, and civic engagement.

CHER KRAUSE KNIGHT is Professor of Art History at Emerson College. She currently serves on the Boston Public Art Triennial Advisory Group and was previously the Memorial Advisor for One Boston Resilience and Public Art Scholar for the City of Boston. She is co-editor (with Harriet F. Senie) of Museums and Public Art? and A Companion to Public Art (Wiley Blackwell, 2016) and author of Public Art: Theory, Practice and Populism (Wiley Blackwell, 2008).

HARRIET F. SENIE is Professor Emerita of Art History at City College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. She served on the New York City Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers and the She Built New York advisory committee. She is the founding co-editor (with Cher Krause Knight) of Public Art Dialogue and co-founder of its international professional organization.