Robert Ladislas Derr
Battlefield of Guilford Park, 2006
Battlefield of Guilford Park (Greensboro, NC) depicts Nathanael Greene, the commanding officer of the southern regiment in the Revolutionary War. Wearing two video cameras that recorded my left and right views, I walked the brick sidewalks that perimeter the clearing capturing views of Nathanael Greene on his horse at one end and the plush green forest of the battlefield on the other. Recording the left and right sides of my walk, I attempted to keep the statue of Greene in constant focus as I meandered the sidewalks. With the video cameras attached to my person, the arrhythmia created by my footsteps animates this lifeless statue as it dances around on the screen. The banal artifact of history finds a voice in my video. Humorous in perspective, I photographed the statue from the backside to question not only the efficacy of public monuments, but also to focus the viewer on the past and then direct his or her attention forward. As the adage goes, we must learn from the past so as to not make the same mistakes in the future.