A groundbreaking exhibition on the National Mall shows monuments aren't set in stone

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/27/ [login to see] /national-mall-monuments-playground
Kids are running all over a temporary playground in the middle of the National Mall. It's part of Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, the Mall's first-ever official outdoor show. The idea is to commemorate American stories missing from the Mall and question how history has been enshrined in stone.

These new monuments look very different from the familiar imposing white monoliths or bronze presidents in thoughtful repose. Six acclaimed artists representing a cross-section of Americans – Black, Latino, Asian and Native – from all over the country were chosen by the Philadelphia-based group Monument Lab to participate.

Artist Derrick Adams, who grew up in Baltimore, designed a working playground divided by a billboard-sized archival photograph from 1954. It shows a previously all-white park a few days after it was desegregated by court order. Joyful Black and white children are seen sliding, swinging and climbing together. Visitors are invited to use the space as it was intended.