Nina Katchadourian: Monument to the Unelected

 

New York — Nina Katchadourian, Monument to the Unelected, Sep 18–Dec 12, 2020; Pace Gallery 

          New York City-based Pace Gallery has recently organized an exhibition by the artist Nina Katchadourian titled “Monument to the Unelected.” The artist began the work in 2008 as an ongoing project that features lawn signs created by Katchadourian that represent the names of all the United States’ presidential candidates that have lost elections. The signs mimic actual political lawn signs by using corrugated vinyl. This series is being exhibited before and after the 2020 Presidential election, and was updated accordingly after the winner was declared. The work has also been replicated in three other locations across the United States.

This work was initiated after the loss of John McCain to Barack Obama, when Katchadourian began to look closer at the exhibition of political signage. The artist described the work as being triggered due to the onslaught of lawn signs she noticed in each election that seemed to be a very American phenomenon worthy of closer inspection. Katchadourian plays on the irony of forgetting candidates that were once so prominently featured on lawn signs across the country forever memorializing them in her work. The impermanence of the traveling exhibition also echoes the nature of these forgotten names. Katchadourian also reinvents the idea of “monument,” as monuments are typically erected to feature one prominent figure, whereas this “monument” actually washes away the idea of the “one” to compartmentalize all the names of the as “those forgotten.” By placing these once distinguished names as a part of the same artwork, Katchadourian dooms the figures to forever be a part of the ignored whole.