The Glasgow Artist Asking Us to Rethink What a Monument Really Is
As dusk settles over Sauchiehall Street, 16 glowing letters begin to dominate the skyline. High above the traffic, buses and pedestrians, a simple statement shines across the city: WE ARE THE MONUMENT.
By Tracy Mukherjee.
In a city famous for its sculptures and striking Victorian architecture, Nathan Coley’s latest public artwork challenges everything we think a monument should be. Forget bronze figures on stone plinths or grand memorials celebrating historical figures. Coley has a different idea. His newest installation suggests that the real monument isn’t made from granite or steel at all. It’s us.
NATHAN COLEY
Born in Glasgow in 1967, Coley has spent much of his career exploring how people connect with the places they inhabit. A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, he has become one of Britain’s most respected contemporary artists, exhibiting around the world. His work often uses illuminated text, but rather than telling viewers what to think, it poses questions that linger long after they’ve walked away.
WE ARE THE MONUMENT seems to be a perfect artwork for a city which has seen its communities and architecture connected by continuous change.
The piece has been acquired by Glasgow Life Museums for the city’s collections, and will spend its first year of public display on the roof of the Glasgow Dental Hospital, just a stone’s throw from the Glasgow School of Art where Coley studied.
The work overlooks a part of the city that has witnessed dramatic change over the past decade. Sauchiehall Street has endured devastating fires, ambitious regeneration projects and the challenges faced by high streets across the UK. Yet despite those setbacks, it continues to reinvent itself. That resilience sits at the heart of all that Glasgow stands for.
COMMUNITIES IMMORTALISING PLACE
Of the piece, Nathan says, ‘WE ARE THE MONUMENT asks why and how we memorialise events, how public statues represent us (or not), who and what they are for, and what role they have in our public life. At a time in our culture when questions of representation and visibility are polarising communities, the work is, hopefully, inclusive, but also challenging.’
The phrase ‘WE ARE THE MONUMENT’ originates from writer and activist Rebecca Solnit, who suggests that the greatest monuments are often the communities that come together during times of crisis rather than the statues erected thereafter. Coley’s adaptation transforms that idea into a piece of artwork where both its form and its audience become the term.
Instead of asking us to admire heroes from the past, the installation celebrates ordinary people living in the present. Commuters, our NHS, students, friends and neighbours whose daily actions quietly shape the city of Glasgow.
As we know, People Make Glasgow – that has always been Glasgow’s greatest strength.
OUR CITY’S GREATEST STRENGTH
Of course tourists will marvel at the city’s magnificent architecture, but anyone who knows Glasgow understands its reputation as a must-see city to visit rests as much on its people. It’s the warmth of strangers, the humour in difficult times and the fierce sense of community that has defined the city through decades of social and economic change. Glasgow has repeatedly shown its resilience, not simply because buildings were lovingly restored, but because our community stands strong through every challenge.
The installation also feels like something of a homecoming. Having built an international reputation through works that have appeared in galleries and public spaces across Europe and beyond, Coley returns to the city where his artistic voice first developed. Positioned within sight of the Glasgow School of Art, the artwork keeps watch over the institution where the artist began.
Nathan adds, ‘With George Square being renovated and the city changing in exciting ways, this work aims to make us stop and think about what this means and what we want – because in the end, it’s the people of Glasgow that are the monument.’
Perhaps that’s why the glowing words feel so at home above Sauchiehall Street. They’re not just another public artwork. They’re a reminder of something Glaswegians have always known: a city’s greatest landmark isn’t found on a map or carved into stone… it’s the people who call it home.
For more information visit Glasgow Life
