Breaking the Bronze Ceiling: Women, Memory, and Public Space

The book comprehensively assesses the portrayal of women in public art and offers a fervent plea to address the severe underrepresentation of women in memorials.

Breaking the Bronze Ceiling: Women, Memory, and Public Space uncovers a glaring omission in our global memorial landscape: the conspicuous absence of women. Exploring this neglected narrative, the book emerges as the foremost guide to women’s memorialization across diverse cultures and ages. As global memorials come under intense examination, with metropolises vying for a more inclusive recognition of female contributions, this book stands at the forefront of contemporary discussion.

The book’s thought-provoking essays artfully traverse the complex terrains of gender portrayal, urban tales, ancestral practices, and grassroots activism—all anchored in the bedrock of cultural remembrance. Rich in the range of cases discussed, the book sifts through multifaceted representations of women, from Marians to Liberties, to handmaidens, to particular historical women.

Contributors: Carolina Aguilera, Manuela Badilla Rajevic, Daniel E. Coslett, Erika Doss, Tania Gutiérrez-Monroy, Daniel Herwitz, Katherine Hite, Lauren Kroiz, Ana Maria León, Fernando Luis Martínez Nespral, Pia Montealegre, Sierra Rooney, Valentina Rozas-Krause, Daniela Sandler, Kirk Savage, Andrew M. Shanken, Susan Slyomovics, Marita Sturken, Amanda Su, Dell Upton, Nathaniel Robert Walker, and Mechtild Widrich.