Tag Archives: otherism

Isabella vs. The Other

isabella

We decided to stage our intervention on the statue of Queen Isabella 1 of Castille located in Laurier Park. The Statue was gifted to the city in 1959 by the Consulate General of Spain in Montreal on behalf of the Institute of Hispanic Culture in Madrid.

Queen Isabella led the Spanish inquisition, which expelled the Jewish and Muslim populations from Spain. She was also the patron of Christopher Columbus who ‘discovered’ the Americas. Given the Queens violent history this memorial has not been without controversy.

Shloime Perel, an organizer for the Refugee Research Project in Montreal, wrote an opinion piece in the Montreal Gazette which cited the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, arguing that Isabella was guilty. He also contacted several local community members and politicians calling for the removal of the statue.

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In December 2015 somebody doused the statue with red paint and attaching a sign saying “I AM GUILTY OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY”.

However, neither of these actions subverted the western style of memorials; it was still Isabella who had to own the past.

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By placing mirrors around the bust of the statue, we are countering the past intervention by confronting the public rather than the memorial. The mirrors simultaneously hide Isabella, and force the public to see their reflection, facilitating the opportunity to reflect. The inclusion of the Edict of the Expulsion of the Jews and the letter addressing Columbus’s voyages will be attached to the statue as proof of Isabella’s crimes, and as a way to cement our project give context to the viewer.

How has Isabella’s crimes permeated throughout our world today?

Is there a moral imperative to intervene at such contested sites?

 

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State of Emergency in Attawapiskat

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Anti Semitism in Europe