Taking Down Statues Isn’t Erasing History, and I’ll Tell You Why.

'Statues aren’t history. They are a memorialisation. They are acts of political symbolism meant to shore up a narrative about what this country is.’ Writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch speaks on the role that statues play in the telling of our collective history, in response to the toppling of the statue of slave owner Edward Colston in Bristol by Black Lives Matter protesters on Sunday 7 June 2020. The removal of statues is a topic Hirsch is well known for addressing, having tackled it back in 2017 in a widely read article for the Guardian. Hirsch rebuts the idea that toppling statues serves to erase history, and explains the fragility of a nation who cannot engage fully with their own past. Not only is her work in resurfacing the parts of colonial history that have been excluded from popular narrative, but as she explains, statues are not ‘history’ but memorialisations that are politically expedient, which warrant review. Established in November 2000, SHOWstudio is an award-winning fashion website, founded and directed by Nick Knight, that has defined the manner in which fashion is presented via the Internet. A pioneer of fashion film and live fashion broadcasting, SHOWstudio is now recognised as the leading force behind these mediums, offering a unique platform to nurture and encourage fashion to engage with moving image in the digital age. In its documentation of fashion and the arts, SHOWstudio has collaborated with pop culture icons and creatives including Tracey Emin