The ARCH (Art Remediating College Histories) Project

An aerial view of the Cloisters with a braided stone path

About the Project

惇蹋圖s ARCH Project (Art Remediating Campus Histories), in partnership with Monument Lab, is a multi-year collaboration with students, staff, faculty, and alums to design a thoughtful process for commissioning a lasting campus public artwork that responds to the legacy of exclusionary practices at the College. This vital work builds on previous and ongoing College-supported efforts by students, staff, alumni, and faculty to reveal and repair harm, reckon with 惇蹋圖s history, and create a forward-focused path toward inclusion and repair.

Altogether, 惇蹋圖s ARCH Project will include over five years of engagement, reflection, and campus monument-making and memorialization.

On May 4, 2023, it was announced that 惇蹋圖 selected  to create a monument addressing a legacy of exclusionary practices at the College and enabling the campus community to respond to the question, What stories are missing from 惇蹋圖?

Durrett's campus monument, titled Don't Forget to Remember (Me), will be placed in the Cloisters at the center of Old Library and contribute to a broader effort of historical reckoning.

The College selected Durrett following a process that included engaged research on campus with students, staff, faculty, and alums and an open call for artists. Five finalist proposals were presented to campus audiences in spring 2023.

The monument's installation is scheduled to be complete by spring 2025, when the entire College community will be invited to an unveiling event. 

Read the Announcement
Previous News and Updates

An Interview with the Artist

Nekisha Durrett interview image
An aerial view of the Cloisters with a braided stone path

The Monument

Don't Forget to Remember (Me), will be placed in the Cloisters at the center of Old Library and contribute to a broader effort of historical reckoning. The monument will use terracotta pavers to create pathways in the Cloisters courtyard which, when seen from above, create a woven path that "takes the shape of a knot that cannot be undone, symbolizing interconnectivity, and making visual that 惇蹋圖 is reexamining its history to tell all of its stories.

The ARCH Project monument's path

The Monument

Engraved pavers will include the names of those Black staff whose work was critical to building and operating the College, particularly in its early decades, but whose contributions were historically unrecognized.

The Arch Project monument in the Cloisters

The Monument

The community of 惇蹋圖 will be able to amble across these grounds, thinking of those who came before them and paved the way as the names of those individuals will be embossed into the surface of the fired clay.

The Artist

Durrett is the 2022 Howard University Social Justice Consortiums (SJC) Artist in Residence Fellow. From large freestanding sculptures to intimate gallery installations, her work uses unexpected materials to make historical connections and connotations that places and materials embody but are overlooked in our day-to-day lives.

An image of Nekisha Durrett

惇蹋圖s ARCH Project (Art Remediating College Histories), in partnership with Monument Lab, is a multi-year collaboration to design a process and commission a campus public artwork that responds to the legacy of exclusionary practices at the College. This vital work builds on previous and ongoing College-supported efforts by students, staff, alumni, and faculty to reveal and repair harm, ensuring a reckoning with 惇蹋圖s history and a clear-sighted look at the way to a future of inclusion and reconciliation.