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To celebrate its reopening this September after eight months of renovation, the non-profit cultural center Pioneer Works has prepared two exhibitions, one of which features the work of Le'Andra LeSeur. For LeSeur this represents a milestone in her artistic career, as it is her first institutional solo exhibition in New York. LeSeur will show the video installation Monument Eternal, which was co-commissioned by Pioneer Works and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

In Monument Eternal, LeSeur considers the impact that monuments raised to perpetuate racist legacies have on the psyche of Black communities. The installation is centered around the titular video which documents the surroundings of Stone Mountain Park, a public park in Georgia dominated by a bas-relief that depicts three Confederate leaders on horseback. Through this work the artist revisits the haunts of an adolescence spent in Atlanta, reminiscing about the many family gatherings held at Stone Mountain.

Le'Andra LeSeur, Superwoman, 2018. Video still. Courtesy of the artist.

LeSeur's video captures the artist in slow motion as she falls repeatedly onto the peak of Stone Mountain, seeking to take the different manifestations of violence that are embodied in this monument and transmute them into healing and reconciliation. Through this means she achieves catharsis in the communal, social, historical, political and environmental realms. Accompanying the video installation is a selection of multimedia pieces by the artist that capture her natural corporeal responses to Stone Mountain and convey them as tangible records.

Le'Andra LeSeur is multidisciplinary artist based in Jersey City who expresses herself in a broad range of media, including video, installation, photography, painting and drawing. She challenges systems of power by prominently extolling Blackness, queerness and femininity in her art. She has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Atlanta Contemporary; Marlborough, New York; and others.

The exhibition Monument Eternal is open through December 15, 2024. For more about upcoming events at Pioneer Works, visit their site.

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