Monuments, memorialization and public space: reflections concerning the sculpture of Juana de Azurduy

Abstract

On July 15, 2015, a sculpture –a gift from the government of Bolivia– was dedicated to Juana Azurduy de Padilla in Buenos Aires. The big figure in bronze, commissioned to Argentine artist Andrés Zerneri, was located in the park behind the government palace, replacing a previous statue to Christopher Columbus. This paper analyzes the intersection of aesthetic, cultural, and political meanings this sculpture brings to the city's sculptural landscape. In order to do this, it studies the work's symbolism, its context of production, and the interactions and the uses of the space it enables. The analysis is based on press coverage, institutional websites, Argentine and Chilean diplomatic documents, online-available lms, interviews, and my own fieldwork.