With our proposal for the colonial monument in Braunschweig, we invite bystanders to think about new ways of looking that provide insight into the blind spots within the cultural archive of a colonial history. How do we give meaning to what we don't see? What is the function of the blind spot? What lingers? What can't be seen? How do we feel? What continues to haunt us? And what binds us? Obsidian mirrors, or black mirrors, were used around the time of the Aztecs to see oneself in past, present and future worlds, as well as the underworld.A raised platform of black glossy polished granite surrounds the monument. Which is a reference to the Obsidian mirror. This plateau has the same height as the base of the monument and fully ' embraces' the monument . The black granite functions as a black mirror in which the dark colonial history that the monument represents is reflected. The names of resistance heroes who fought against the German colonial occupier are sandblasted into the granite. They also refer to tombstones. The visitor can listen to the biographies of these heroes via a QR code that is placed in the vicinity of the monument. The stories are all written from a feminine perspective because women are often left out in historie. Check this link and listen to these incredible stories of courage, imagination, strength endurance and hope: https://www.braunschweig.de/kultur/erinnerungskultur/orte-der-erinnerung/kolonialdenkmal-jasperallee/Liberating-the-Monument-EN.php

At night the monument will be illuminated with violet light by means of spotlights that are sunken into the granite surrounding the monument. "Violet is the last color in the color spectrum. It symbolizes the boundary between being and not being, seeing and not seeing. With the color violet, the monument is healed because violet can create equality, between all people. The monument is ' liberated ' from representing power and oppression.