Take Lee Down, 2022
Watercolor, paper, 452x184 cm, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, Virginia, USA
On September 8, 2021, the Commonwealth of Virginia removed the 12-ton monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, marking a pivotal moment in the city’s reckoning with its Confederate past. This watercolor series documents the dismantling of the monument, tracing the symbolic erasure of Lee from the civic landscape and his gradual descent into history.
As the monument was removed, two time capsules were recovered from beneath its pedestal, containing books, letters, currency, and other artifacts from the past. A new capsule was later installed, filled with objects reflecting contemporary Virginia, including a photograph of a Black ballerina, Kente cloth commemorating the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in 1619, “Stop Asian Hate” flyers, LGBTQ+ Pride pins, an Equal Rights Amendment sash, and an expired vial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
For Muromtseva, who was born in the former Soviet Union, the event resonated with another historical moment: the widespread dismantling of monuments to Lenin and other Soviet leaders following the collapse of the USSR. Although separated by geography and political context, both acts reveal how societies renegotiate collective memory through the removal of public monuments. Rather than simply erasing the past, they expose the contested meanings of historical symbols and the values that replace them.
The work extends Muromtseva’s ongoing investigation into the politics of memory and the ways historical narratives are constructed, revised, and contested. Unlike many of her projects, which are developed through interviews and collaborative processes, this series is rooted in direct observation. Present among the gathered crowd, the artist recorded the event as it unfolded, rendering the dismantling of the monument, the crane that carried it away, and the empty pedestal in a cinematic sequence. By drawing a parallel between post-Soviet decommunization and the removal of Confederate monuments in the United States, the series reflects on monument removal not as an act of forgetting, but as a visible process through which societies redefine their relationship to history.
Photo credits: Terry Brown
New York City Dogs, 2022
Watercolor, paper, ink, 2022, 38x57 cm each work.
After relocating to Harlem, NYC, in the summer of 2022, Muromtseva began exploring her new neighborhood through conversations with local dog owners. Using dogs as a natural point of connection, she engaged residents in informal exchanges that revealed everyday experiences, personal histories, and the rhythms of community life. The project approaches these encounters as a way of understanding place through ordinary social interactions, offering a portrait of Harlem shaped by its inhabitants rather than its landmarks.
Subway Creatures, 2022
Watercolor, paper, ink, 38x57 cm each work.
