“Essential Strategies for Surviving a Fall”

**Exploring the Power of Memory and Survival in Le’Andra LeSeur’s *Monument Eternal***

Le’Andra LeSeur’s *Monument Eternal*, currently on view at Pioneer Works, is a multilayered exhibition that engages deeply with themes of memory, trauma, and resilience. While debuting as her first institutional solo show, LeSeur’s work is a deeply personal confrontation with the violent legacies of White supremacy and colonization, as informed by her experiences at Stone Mountain, Georgia—a notorious site shaped by America’s Confederate past. The artist transforms this history into powerful visual and sensory experiences that profoundly explore how individuals, particularly Black bodies, live and move within spaces marked by such oppressive histories.

### The Monument of White Supremacy Embedded in Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain is not just an ordinary natural landmark; it holds deep, sinister historical significance. The mountain embodies White supremacy and the violent colonization of Indigenous lands. Perhaps most notably, it gained notoriety when the resurgent Ku Klux Klan gathered at its peak on a Thanksgiving night in 1915, reviving the group’s role in American life. Moreover, carved into the mountain’s north face is the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, celebrating Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and “Stonewall” Jackson. This massive carving, completed only fifty years ago, serves as a potent representation of the “Lost Cause” myth—a narrative that seeks to reframe the Confederacy in a nostalgic and honorable light while overlooking the violent subjugation at its core.

For LeSeur, Stone Mountain is a palpable, living reminder of the ongoing traumas inflicted on Black communities by spaces designed to honor this violent past. *Monument Eternal* dives into the weight of moving through such places—places where the policies and legacies of racism still cast a long and difficult shadow over Black bodies.

### Unraveling Trauma Through Art

LeSeur’s *Monument Eternal* presents a variety of tactile, visual, and sonic experiences that speak to the complex emotions associated with remembering and surviving traumatic spaces. Central to the exhibition is a powerful, seven-minute video installation, which immediately draws viewers into this tension. The video begins with an arresting image: LeSeur’s body, slowly falling atop the jagged granite of Stone Mountain. Her physical collapse, a recurring motif throughout the video, is juxtaposed with a rhythmic drumbeat that resembles a heartbeat, as she recites poignant verses: *“Why must I collapse? Why must I fall?”*

This imagery of collapse and falling evolves beyond the initial painful symbolism. Over the duration of the video, viewers witness LeSeur grapple with the act of falling—not as a crushing defeat but as an inevitable force to be understood and, eventually, transcended. It’s a meditation on surviving trauma, finding grace in the fall, and the ongoing struggle of carrying personal and collective histories. At times, the act of falling blurs with floating, hinting at moments of weightlessness and freedom. Through this tension between descent and uplift, LeSeur challenges viewers to see the act of movement as fluid—a process that encompasses failure, struggle, and survival, but also holds within it the possibility of renewal.

### A Tactile Approach to Memory

LeSeur complements her video installation with tangible works that echo the weight of violence and survival showcased in the film. Particularly revealing is her painting, *A faint touch of bones remembering* (2023), created during her residency at Pioneer Works. Using jagged lines and deep, earthy tones interspersed with flashes of bright blues, the painting captures not only the physical landscape of Stone Mountain but also LeSeur’s emotional responses to it. It is as if each brushstroke represents an embodied memory—a quickened heartbeat, the sudden intake of breath—turning the canvas into a map of lived experience, where trauma and resilience are interwoven in visceral, visual ways.

This theme of translating embodied experience into tangible form continues in the work *Sustaining Bloom (After Porteri)* (2024). Here, LeSeur draws inspiration from yellow daisies that grow improbably along the harsh surface of Stone Mountain, offering a botanical metaphor for survival in hostile spaces. Yet, unlike many representations of resilience, LeSeur does not romanticize these blooms. Instead, through her delicate use of charcoal and hibiscus, the work reflects both fragility and the cost of survival. It’s a candid depiction of the persistence required to thrive in a place—physical or metaphorical—that was never meant for you.

### The Sacred and the Eternal

Similarly poignant are the twin stained-glass panels titled *A soft place to land…* (2024), which serve as a quiet, almost sacred culmination to the exhibition. Positioned near the video installation, these mouth-blown glass pieces cast a soft glow through the gallery, evoking the serene atmosphere of a church. In