Do-Ho Suh is a Korean sculpture and installation artist who was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1962. His artwork typically focuses on the abstract representation of human personality and the boundaries between individual and group dynamics. Suh uses his artwork to express how people are interconnected, using themes such as cultural diversity, unity, and the ideal of home. One of his most notable artworks, a sculpture titled Floor, reflects these themes. The piece utilizes thousands of multi-racial figurines holding up a glass sheet. Suh’s sculpture symbolizes thousands of different people with varying backgrounds working together for a common purpose. The artwork was meant to be walked on top of in order to grasp the full message of the sculpture. This sort of unconventional usage is typical of Suh’s artwork. (Source 1)
Just like Suh’s Floor, his sculpture Unsung Founders displays a similar concept in that it utilizes small sculptures holding a larger object to convey a message. Unsung Founders was commissioned and paid for by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s graduating class of 2002. It was built to be a monument to the colored workers – both bond and free – who worked to build the university. The artwork makes its home in McCorkle Place, where several other memorials reside, to help further recognize the African American influence on the campus. (Source 2)
Suh’s sculpture has two main parts. The first is a large, circular, marble slab. On its top it has an inscription that reads, “The Class of 2002 honors the University’s unsung founders – the people of color bond and free – who helped build the Carolina that we cherish today.” The marble head rests on the outstretched hands of more than 300 bronze sculptures that hold it is place. Each individual person was constructed with labored detail. Some of the figures are wearing tattered clothes and chains, typical wear for a slave, to further illustrate the link between the struggles of the slaves who built the university and their monument. Together the sculpture functions as a symbol of how the people of color worked together to create the university. Without the figures underneath, the sculpture would collapse onto the ground. (Source 2)
Unsung Founders was made to be more than just another memorial created for a group of people. Suh’s vision for the sculpture was for it to be an anti-monument. This piece of art is very small in comparison to the large statues it rests in between and can easily be overlooked. The artwork also serves as a table that can be used by anyone. The size and usability of this memorial is very typical of Suh’s work with anti-monuments. By making this piece a contrast to other works, Suh actively draws the attention away from other monuments dedicated to more prominent racial groups . This sort of style helps the sculpture make meaning by making viewers question the nature of sculpture.
The use of Unsung Founders as a table is controversial because it is traditionally seen as disrespectful to use a memorial object as anything other than something to be viewed. Many people disagree with its use because it can be interpreted as a show of unawareness, lack of care or respect.
The diminutive size of the sculpture has led to other controversies. Compared to many of the other monuments that are dedicated to the white founders of of the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it pales in comparison. Many people see the need for more larger sculptures to be dedicated to the African Americans who helped make Carolina. The location of the memorial in between two highly controversial sculptures adds to its controversy. Silent Sam, a sculpture dedicated to the Confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War for the South, is constantly under fire for its racial insensitivity. The Unsung Founders sculpture almost seems to be covered up by its much larger neighbor. Behind Suh’s sculpture is the Caldwell Monument, a memorial dedicated to the first president of the University where he and his wife are buried. These monuments contrast directly with the humble qualities of the Unsung Founders
Unsung Founders is meant to be a metaphor for the struggle of the untold colored founders. The sculpture itself can sometimes be overlooked by people who do not know of its presence much like the efforts of many influential African Americans. The work of these men and women has been overlooked for centuries and continues to be ignored. Much like a table these men and women had to hold the burdens of others as well as their own.
- Suh, Do-Ho, Rochelle Steiner, Clara Kim, and Elizabeth A. T. Smith. Do Ho Suh: Drawings. Munich: DelMonico , Prestel, 2014. Print
- “Unsung Founders Memorial – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 July 2015.
- “Do Ho Suh.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 July 2015.