The Monuments: Who Should Shape Public Space New exhibit features photographs by Sanjay Suchak

 

Now open on the third floor of Shannon Library at The University of Virginia:

Who decides what belongs in public space, and what do those choices say about our democracy?

"The Monuments: Who Should Shape Public Space?," a new exhibit from the Karsh Institute of Democracy and the University of Virginia Library, explores these questions through photographer and former Karsh Institute Practitioner Fellow Sanjay Suchak's images documenting the removal and current status of Confederate monuments across Virginia.

UVA Shannon Library

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA

 

Robert E. Lee Monument Overhead, Richmond, Virginia, July 2, 2020

Foundry workers prepare to melt down the face of the Robert E. Lee statue for repurporsing, October, 2023

Images from Sanjay Suchak's work documenting the removal of Confederate iconography across the South have been selected to be part of the major new exhibit "Monuments" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA)

 Via MOCA

Sanjay Suchak

The seated statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury from behind 

MONUMENTS

Co-organized and co-presented by MOCA and The Brick, MONUMENTS marks the recent wave of monument removals as a historic moment. The exhibition reflects on the histories and legacies of post-Civil War America as they continue to resonate today, bringing together a selection of decommissioned monuments, many of which are Confederate, with contemporary artworks borrowed and newly created for the occasion. Removed from their original outdoor public context, the monuments in the exhibition will be shown in their varying states of transformation, from unmarred to heavily vandalized.

Co-curated by Hamza Walker, Director of The Brick; Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator at MOCA; and Kara Walker, artist; with Hannah Burstein, Curatorial Associate at The Brick; and Paula Kroll, Curatorial Assistant at MOCA, MONUMENTS considers the ways public monuments have shaped national identity, historical memory, and current events.   

Following the racially motivated mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC (2015) and the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, VA (2017), alongside Bree Newsome’s powerful removal of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse (2015), the United States witnessed the decommissioning of nearly 200 monuments. These removals prompted a national debate that remains ongoing. MONUMENTS aims to historicize these discussions in our current moment and provide a space for crucial discourse and active engagements about challenging topics.  

MONUMENTS features newly commissioned artworks by contemporary artists Bethany Collins, Abigail DeVille, Karon Davis, Stan Douglas, Kahlil Robert Irving, Cauleen Smith, Kevin Jerome Everson, Walter Price, Monument Lab, Davóne Tines and Julie Dash, and Kara Walker. Additional artworks by Leonardo Drew, Torkwase Dyson, Nona Faustine, Jon Henry, Hugh Mangum, Martin Puryear, Andres Serrano, and Hank Willis Thomas, are borrowed from private collectors and institutions. 

The exhibition presents decommissioned monuments borrowed from the City of Baltimore, Maryland; the City of Montgomery, Alabama; The Jefferson School for African American Heritage, Charlottesville, Virginia; the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, Richmond; the Valentine, Richmond, Virginia; and The Daniels Family Charitable Foundation, Raleigh, North Carolina. By juxtaposing these objects with contemporary works, the exhibition expands the context in which they are understood and highlights the gaps and omissions in popular narratives of American history.  

MONUMENTS will be accompanied by a scholarly publication and a robust slate of public and educational programming.

MONUMENTS is co-organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) and The Brick. MONUMENTS is co-curated by Hamza Walker, Director, The Brick; artist Kara Walker; and Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator, MOCA; with Hannah Burstein, Curatorial Associate, The Brick; and Paula Kroll, Assistant Curator, MOCA.

Presenting support is provided by the Mellon Foundation.

Images from Sanjay Suchak's work documenting the removal of Confederate iconography across the South have been selected to be part of the major new exhibit "Monuments" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) which is co-curated by The Brick. In addition to being a part of the exhibit, Suchak's photo featuring the seated statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury from behind was selected to be the exhibition poster and the cover of the exhibition catalog book.

NY Times: "The year’s most audacious and contentious new show brings out — after years of wrangling, and with heightened security — nearly a dozen Confederate memorials removed from view in the last decade."

NY Times: Kara Walker Deconstructs a Statue, and a Myth

As part of the group exhibition “Monuments,” the artist took a Stonewall Jackson bronze and transformed it into a radically new, unsettled thing.

The Guardian: Breathtaking, unsettling, healing: how US artist Kara Walker transformed a Confederate monument; The sweeping exhibition Monuments, which features 19 contemporary artists, opens in LA on 23 October

Sanjay Suchak

A worker stands with downed statue of Stonewall Jackson

Virginia Public Media Feature On Gallery Photographer Sanjay Suchak

Dave Matthews Band photographer Sanjay Suchak’s path from government work to a career in the arts

Via VPM | By Terri Allard

Published April 23, 2025 

“One of the things that got me into photography when I first started was realizing that with a camera and a small amount of skill, you could go to any show for free at the 9:30 Club when I couldn't afford to,” said photographer Sanjay Suchak. “So, I learned that if I found a publication willing to run my photos, I could kind of come in with a camera and bring a friend. It seemed like a pretty good deal.”

For Suchak, who currently serves as a tour photographer for the Dave Matthews Band, Public Enemy and Slightly Stoopid, choosing photography as a profession was not an option. It was a hobby – something he learned about in his teens from his mother and explored on the side throughout his college years in New York.

“Being the son of a first-generation immigrant, you're not going to necessarily declare that you're going to go to college for art,” he said. “So, I went to school for business and international relations and decided to forge a path in government.”

During his college years, Suchak continued growing as a photographer, capturing images on weekends and evenings. After graduating, he took on a six-month stint as a photographer’s assistant where he learned more about lighting and composition. He then spent a handful of years working in government and nonprofit roles until photography won out and he took on a full-time role as staff photographer at a Maryland community college.

“I found that I was having more success with photography than what I actually went to school for,” said Suchak. “The rewards were more noticeable — not just financially — but just in terms of people connecting with what you do and appreciating what you're putting out there. And it sort of felt like this was going to be my natural path.”

From 2013 to 2023, while freelancing as a videographer and eventually tour photographer for the Dave Matthews Band, Suchak served as the senior photographer for the University of Virginia, covering day-to-day life at the school. This included athletics, faculty research, student activities, marketing and “telling the story of the history of that sort of impressive behemoth of an organization.”

During his time at UVA, Suchak — whose work has been featured in various publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone — also captured the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. It was during this time that he became interested in covering political protests and the removal of Virginia statues, eventually serving as one of only two photographers who were granted access to witness the melting down of Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue that once stood in the Market Street Park.

Sanjay Suchak

Foundry workers prepare to melt down the face of the Robert E. Lee statue for repurposing, October, 2023

He became one of DMB’s official photographers after snapping an image of Dave Matthews and Stevie Wonder during the September 2017 Concert for Charlottesville. Suchak, who always kept a camera on his hip while working in a video capacity, captured the two musicians on stage together, talking to the audience and holding hands.

“I never really envisioned a career in that,” said Suchak, “but over the years, being in Charlottesville, crossing paths with members of the band and then getting to know other people in the music community, I've sort of created a pretty large career out of working for the musicians, and it's been pretty great.”

For Suchak, who also works as a commercial photographer, choosing a career in the arts turned out to be a pretty good decision.

“I let my dad do my taxes” said Suchak, “so he understands I'm not gonna starve.”


Some of the photographic works represented in the embedded video contain explicit language.

Information about Suchak’s work can be found on his website.

Suchak's work can be seen at The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC April 23-27, 2025 in Booth C8.

E-Photo Newsletter: New York Photography Show, Presented by AIPAD, Returned to Form at the Park Ave. Armory

 Via The E-Photo Newsletter

May 14, 2024

By Michael Diemar

"The 43rd edition of The Photography Show felt very much a homecoming for exhibitors and visitors alike. Following stints at Pier 94 and Center415, the fair returned to what many regards as its rightful home, the Park Avenue Armory. The venue itself looked better than ever and the overall quality of the works on show was excellent. But there was also something else that came into play. While most of the people I talked to described the fair as beautiful, they also pointed out that it was manageable. There were 77 exhibitors in all, plus a separate section for publishers and rare book dealers. Some art fairs have twice that number of exhibitors, if not more, and it gets exhausting, plus, quality tends to suffer."  Click for full article.

"Next, I spoke to Sidney S. Monroe, of Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe. The gallery showed a powerful presentation of photojournalism, including works by Mark Peterson, Ryan Vizzions and Sanjay Suchak.

Monroe explained. "Photojournalism has been our focus for over 30 years, photographers who document our history and our times. We have a wide roster of photojournalists, some go back to the mid-20th century and right up to events that are happening today. For this edition of the fair, we brought a little bit more of the contemporary work than we have in the past. It's important work and artistic work but I think with all the challenges the world faces, it's more important than ever."

I was particularly struck by Sanjay Suchak's images of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville being melted down and repurposed. Monroe told me, "The monument was a flashpoint for the protests following the death of George Floyd, as were the other Confederate monuments in the South. Sanjay photographed the protests at the statues, the removal of them, and we are including two images of the melting down of the Charlottesville statue, the end of the circle for that community, and we have had great success with them here. Our booth has been very well received. We have always had great success with museums at this fair. It's extremely satisfying to see museums taking the leap towards contemporary, more immediate work. When all is said and done, I think it will have been a very successful fair for us."

Photojournalists on the Front Line: The Emotional Toll Moderated by Gallery Photographer Sanjay Suchak

 Photojournalists on the Front Line: The Emotional Toll — Karsh Institute of Democracy (virginia.edu)

Via University of Virginia Karsh Institute of Democracy

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Photojournalists document the world around us. We see their images directly on our devices and televisions, capturing emotions and connecting us to stories at home and abroad. How do photojournalists help us understand difficult topics and breaking news? How does covering complex and emotional issues affect photojournalists personally?

Join a distinguished panel of photojournalists—including Pulitzer Prize–winning photographers—as they explore how their profession keeps the public well-informed and share their perspectives on what it’s like to work in some of the most challenging areas in the world.

Co-sponsored by UVA's Karsh Institute of Democracy and Public Service Pathways.

SPEAKERS

Michael Robinson Chávez

Freelance Visual Journalist (Washington, D.C.)

Ryan M. Kelly

Freelance Photojournalist (Richmond, VA)

Kirsten Luce

Independent Photojournalist (Brooklyn, NY)

Sanjay Suchak (moderator)

Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, Karsh Institute of Democracy

Independent Documentary and Commercial Photographer (Charlottesville, VA)

WHEN:

Tuesday April 9, 2024

1:00pm - 2:15pm

WHERE:

UVA's Rotunda (Dome Room)

1826 University Avenue Charlottesville, VA

REGISTER HERE

Sanjay Suchak's photographs from his "Take Them Down" project documenting the process of dismantling Confederate iconography across the Commonwealth will be on exhibit during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York City, April 25-28.  The next step of this project aims to answer the question of “what's next” for these relics of the Jim Crow era. A short documentary was filmed about his work on this project.

Lawsuit to halt melting of Confederate statue at centre of deadly Virginia rally largely dismissed

Via The Art Newspaper

July 19, 2023 

A lawsuit brought by two organisations seeking to block a museum from melting down the equestrian statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee that was at the centre of the deadly 2017 rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been largely dismissed.

Sanjay Suchak and Ryan Vizzions both documented the memorial in Richmond, Virginia in 2020..

Sanjay Suchak: Robert E. Lee Monument Overhead, Richmond, Virginia, July 2, 2020

Ryan Vizzions: Robert E. Lee Memorial, Richmond, Virginia, January 7, 2020

NY Times Features Gallery Photographer Sanjay Suchak's Photographs of Removal of Confederate Statues

 Via The New York Times

April 17, 2022

Sanjay Suchak: Removing Jackson, Richmond, Virginia, July 1, 2020

RICHMOND, Va. — As Devon Henry and his construction team take down the last remnants of statues that long dotted this former capital of the Confederacy, they have developed a grim game.

Random passers-by, some in vehicles, others on foot, often make known their disapproval of Mr. Henry’s work — so often, in fact, that Mr. Henry, who is Black, began to keep count of the many times he or a Black crew member were called an incendiary racial slur.

The count is 72 and climbing, according to Mr. Henry, who has emerged as the go-to statue remover not only for this city, but for all of Virginia and other parts of the South. (Full article)

Monroe Gallery will exhibit Sanjay Suchak's photographs at the AIPAD Photography Show in New York May 20 - 22 in booth #113

Gallery Photographer Sanjay Suchak: "There's no better example of democracy and photography than the statue removals happening around Virginia"

 

Via VPM Instagam

November 7, 2021

Gallery photographer Sanjay Suchak's "Take 'em Down" series covering the removal of confederate statues in Virginia as the only official photographer allowed to be part of the wrecking crew was featured on Virginia Public Media (VPM). His work was featured in Monroe Gallery's "Present Tense" exhibit earlier this summer.

Sanjay Suchak: Removing Jackson, Richmond, Virginia, July 1, 2020

"There's no better example of democracy and photography than the statue removals happening around Virginia. I've always liked documenting construction - more destruction of things, abandoned buildings, tearing down arenas, places filled with such life that you tear down piece by piece. So the idea of dismantling these statues, which are celebrated at some point, for all the wrong reasons is very attractive to me as a photographer.”

- Sanjay Suchak

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