“By calling these works monuments, Walsh positions the luminescent faces in the fraught, timely debate over whom we should honor in public space — and how. Physically, the works resist what we think of when we think of monuments. Made of light, the diaphanous compositions are practically immaterial and as fleeting as the autumn foliage that holds them. Captured on video, the subjects are in constant motion. Even the smallest shifts in expression, rippling over hundreds of leaves, feel weighty.”

 Extract from The Washington post

“The trees have eyes in Strathmore’s mesmerizing art installation ‘Monuments’”

by Kelsy Ables
The Washington post
10-15-2020

Craig Walsh’s Monuments is a site-responsive, outdoor video installation that has been realised across Australia and internationally. Since the first tree projection in 1993, Monuments installation have continued to evolve and captivate new audiences as they occupy new landscapes and engage with different communities. The video installations evoke a haunting synergy between the human form, natural environment, and the act of viewing. Night-time projections transform trees into sculptural monuments, surveying the immediate environment.

Monuments aims to challenge traditional expectations of public monuments and the selective history represented in our civic spaces. Cleverly deconstructing its own definition by humanising the monument, there is a temporary fusion of everyday individuals with other living species occupying shared areas. Undermining the permanent historical and public art models so often controlled by subjective motivations, Monuments recognises the infinite contributions which influence our understanding of place. Monument installations are customized for each site through the selection of the portraitures celebrated.