OUTSHININGthe SHADOWSin Charleston’s Marion SquareAn exhibition of student designs for memorials, monuments, and counter-monuments answering the sculpture of John C. Calhoun and aspiring to make Charleston’s central public space more empowering for all citizens. This was the final course project for ARTH 396 The Architecture of Memory.

Addlestone Library, Second Floor Gallery, Summer 2018

Special thanks to the Department of Art & Architectural History, Sally Caithness, Dominic Bryan, Ista Clarke & the Old Slave Mart Museum, Prof. Julia Eichelberger, Prof. Valerie Frazier, Prof. Richard Grant Gilmore III, Diane Miller, Prof. Joseph Kelly, Prof. Todd LeVasseur & the Sustainability Quality Enhancement Plan, the Penn Center, and the Innovative Teaching & Learning

in the Liberal Arts & Sciences Small Grant Program.

The Civil War erupted a decade

after the death of John C. Calhoun,

and the trajectory of his prominent

political career in Washington pointed

directly to that tragic event. He

created a recipe for political division

by asserting that States’ Rights took

precedence over the powers of the

federal government, and then took a

hard stance on the most divisive issues

of his day, arguing that slavery was

a “positive good” and that African-

Americans were subhuman. On his

death, he was lauded as a hero, and

several efforts to memorialize him

were launched in his native South

Carolina. These culminated in the

1896 column and statue that tower

over Marion Square today.

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)

Exhibition curated by:

Rosemary Ballentine

Patricia Ploehn

Prof. Nathaniel R. Walker

Catalog prepared by:

Prof. Nathaniel R. Walker

Sally Caithness

As early-twentieth century photos of Marion Square reveal, the Calhoun monument originally had a much more direct relationship with the Citadel. That fortress and academy served as the bastion of white power in the South Carolina Lowcountry, and Calhoun was its natural spiritual leader. With all-white cadres of cadets marching and drilling under his approving gaze, the message to black Charlestonians would have been clear: slavery might be dead, but white supremacy lives on in the shadow of John C. Calhoun.

It is long past time to outshine that shadow.

SHRINE to AFRICAN ANCESTORSPlaced on the visual axis of Mother Emanuel AME Church and the John C. Calhoun Monument, this blossom marks the boundary of conflicting sides of our city’s identity. The form is that of a blooming flower or an eternal flame. It consists of nine petals atop a three-tiered platform constructed of local reclaimed wood, perhaps from demolished homes. The petals are borosilicate cast glass, made by being shattered and reforged until a luminescent and powerfully resilient material emerges. Inside, a miniature bronze version of the Calhoun column is sliced into sections, the interior sides of which are emblazoned with historical truths about the bitter oppression and inspiringly brilliant resilience of African-Americans.

Anneau Cappelmann + Patricia Ploehn + Alexandra Steinberg

GARDEN of RESILIENCEThis amendment to the Calhoun Monument will flood the empty moat that currently surrounds the base of his sculpture, encircling and isolating Calhoun. Beyond is a ring of flowers enclosed by a chain barricade, which we hope will become wild and overgrown, attesting to our need to contain and abandon Calhoun’s hateful ideology, and testifying to the resilience of human nature, which even his tall shadow cannot stifle. The water and the flowers extend to the southwest, the water bubbling over a well of sorrows, the flowers nestling a small space for sitting and discussing the history of racism. This will mirror the Holocaust Memorial, and thereby assert parallels between American racism and injustice everywhere.

Chance Laufman + Abbey Sandy

IN MEMORIUM: THE DEBT OWEDby CHARLESTON to AFRICANSThis monopteros pavilion stands in the the ancient power axis linking the white supremacist political ideology of John C. Calhoun with the military order of the Citadel. It is designed to remind the citizens of Charleston of the black Charlestonians who were caught in the terrible grip of that power, as they sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears to bring prosperity to a community that treated them like subhumans. The cool marble of the monopteros provides a shelter and space of contemplation, calling for protection against future tyrannies. Its columns are of a new classical Charlestonian order, featuring rice and sweetgrass in their shining brass capitals.

John-Michael Baldy

TREE of LIGHTRising in Marion Square is a great tree made of cast bronze. Its form is drawn from the Baobab trees of Africa, revered as beautiful shelters for gatherings. The cast bronze of its body evokes the highly developed metalworking arts of West Africa, which helped shape Charleston as highly skilled people were enslaved and brought here to work against their will. Photovoltaic leaves will gather the power of the sun to light the blossoms that dangle from the branches, representing the souls of lost African ancestors. The tree will thus offer a luminous enclave, protecting Charlestonians from the glare of Calhoun, and illuminating deep discussions.

Madison Alspector + Olivia Gartner + Laurie Anne Love

THE PEACE MONUMENTThis obelisk stands at 125 feet, just taller than the Calhoun Monument. It is placed between Calhoun and Mother Emanuel AME, amplifying the beautiful steeple of the church in gratitude for the forgiveness its congregation showed after the attack of 2015. The obelisk is made of steel panels laser-cut in nine-pointed stars, evoking the Mother Emanuel Nine. Its pyramidion cap is made of polished steel to shine like a beacon. Around the base of the monument are beds featuring seasonal plantings of lavender, rosemary, benne, and indigo, while passion vines will climb up the panels of the obelisk. This vine dies back in winter but returns in the warmth of spring, representing resilience and renewal.

Rosemary Ballentine + Emilie Crossan + Bailey Wilson

THE ETERNAL FLAMEof AFRICAN CHARLESTONA seventeen-foot-tall tower supports a pair of bronze hands raised in supplication and hope. It is inscribed: “In memory of the countless enslaved people who lived and died in Charleston, and in celebration of their descendants.” The base of the tower has room to leave small stones and shells. Five granite monoliths encircle the tower supporting bronze relief panels depicting Charleston’s African-American history. Granite benches decorated with a curving rice motif invite rest and contemplation. The shadow of Calhoun’s pillar will fall across the flame every day, to be obliterated by it!

Diane Gould

UNITY TOWER Tabby concrete with stone accents make up this landmark tower on the western side of Marion Square. Its architecture is Gothic Revival, evoking memorial structures of the Middle Ages and referencing the form of nearby Mother Emanuel AME Church. The second level has nine wind chimes that ring out as breezes pass over the city, evoking the voices of those who were taken in the attack of June 2015, and all who have been lost and are missed. The third level of the tower has nine roped bells that make a beautiful chord when rung by nine citizens in unison, representing the social harmony to which the citizens of Charleston must always aspire.

Hoyt Ammidon + Matthew Spence

THE JOHN C. CALHOUNANTI-MONUMENT A wall stands up against Calhoun, serving as an anti-monument shielding the public from the lies told by the grandeur of his column. The wall consists of black granite, and on the side facing Calhoun conveys his history in engraved text and image, including his legislative and philosophical work, as well as his war-mongering and virulent racism. The opposite side of the wall dips down into the ground and contextualizes his work in the larger histories of slavery, the Civil War, and white supremacy. The middle is pierced by a stairway to frame the monument visually as well as historically.

Grace Brower + Caroline Gesell

TREE of TYRANNYCharleston has debated putting a new label on the Calhoun Monument to explain the wrongs he committed as a militant white supremacist. A small plaque would never be sufficient to counterbalance a large, beautiful monument, however, so we propose a new counter-monument that will answer Calhoun with aesthetic presence and symbolic substance. A rotten, dying tree will rise in bronze from a block of limestone, a tragic symbol of an intelligent man ruined by inner corruption. An engraved table of tree rings will outline his professional rise and moral fall. Readers will, perhaps,

perceive a new instability in his towering monument.

Alexandria Crider + Madeline Petty