Kara Walker: Unmanned Drone / The Brick, Los Angeles

In 2021, Kara Walker was deeded a decommissioned Confederate monument from which to make a new work of art. The monument was an equestrian statue of "Stonewall" Jackson that stood next to the Albemarle County Courthouse in Charlottesville, Virginia. Unveiled in 1921, it was a work by Charles Keck. At thirteen feet high, and sixteen feet long, the bronze statue portrayed Jackson spurring his steed, "Little Sorrel," into the heat of battle.

For her new work, titled Unmanned Drone, Walker dissected Keck's statue into discrete fragments, reshuffling them in Hieronymous Bosch-like fashion. Altered beyond recognition, it is, however, still horse and rider. Instead of charging into battle, Walker's headless horseman wanders in Civil War purgatory, dragging its sword over a ruined battlefield.

Unmanned Drone is part of MONUMENTS, an exhibition concurrently presented here and at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. MONUMENTS is an unprecedented pairing of decommissioned historical monuments and powerful works by nineteen artists. A unique collaboration between The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) and The Brick, the exhibition responds to fundamental and ongoing histories of the post-Civil War United States.

Kara Walker: Unmanned Drone / The Brick, Los Angeles. February 18, 2026.