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In reply to the discussion: NAACP wants Confederate carving removed from Georgia's Stone Mountain [View all]JustAnotherGen
(38,031 posts)I'm suggesting we remove it.
My husband is a UNESCO certified restoration specialist - he and his team have worked to remove stained glass pieces (in the iron) from churches and building with 500-600 years more on them than this sculpture. He's got his start as a metal specialist in the Pantheon working around the stone.
It we can remove and restore things far more fragile i.e. stained glass and ancient Rome and ancient Roman ruins around Europe - we can remove this with care.
Now I know for a fact there are people in the US who are qualified to remove it - because he has worked with them here.
And note -my husband is a juried artist - so I TOTALLY get the 'artist' point of view. The restoration work lead to two branches of his business - custom design and restoration for architecture. If no one is available in the US - we could reach out to someone with his kind of art training abroad - An artist who does this type of commercial work because there is a lot more money involved will 'get it' and treat it with care. Especially if they are involved with UNESCO. You can't touch their shit unless you are the best at what you do.
It's not an ungettable get.
And due to it being exposed - we really should have it in a museum as an 'oddity' of America. You don't want to lose it - but you could certainly look at it as a 'shame on us' thing.
Then again - I think Triumph of the Will (Reifenstahl's propaganda piece for Hitler) is one of the most beautiful things filmed - from an artist perspective. And I'm amazed at D.W.'s special effects in Birth of a Nation. But we won't find those movies being shown today outside of Holocaust memorials or Art and History of Film Classes. I think TCM showed BOAN last year with heavy commentary before and after. Both are perfect example of 'shame on us' while giving us a slice of the worst people in the world.
This is another slice of the worst people in the world (the Klan) and what they worshipped and were lead by.