Counter-Ceremonial: Contemporary Artists and Queen Victoria Monuments
Journal: 19 Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century
Year: 2021

As the embodiment of empire, Victoria became a symbol of allegiance and resistance, love and loathing. This is nowhere more apparent than in the many monuments memorializing her across the United Kingdom and around the world. At a moment when public sculpture has become increasingly controversial, as witnessed by the removal of Confederate monuments in the American South or the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ movement, monuments to Victoria are also coming under scrutiny. While many statues have been damaged