In the past few years there has been a rush to topple statues. Across the United States of
America the United Kingdom Belgium and elsewhere Black Lives Matter protesters defaced and
in some cases hauled down statues of slaveholders Confederate icons and imperialists. In
Bristol Edward Colston was knocked off his plinth and hurled into the harbour. Robert E. Lee
was covered in graffiti in Richmond Virginia. Christopher Columbus was toppled in Minnesota
burned and thrown into a lake in Virginia and beheaded in Massachusetts. King Leopold II of
the Belgians was set on fire in Antwerp and doused in red paint in Ghent. Winston Churchill was
daubed with the word 'racist' in London. The backlash from conservatives has been fast and
intense. Statues are one of the most visible forms of historical storytelling maybe the most
visible. The stories we tell are vital to how we as societies understand our past and make our
future. The ultimate question is: 'who controls history?' FALLEN IDOLS tells the story of
twelve toppled statues around the world. It will look at why they were put up in the first
place the stories they were intended to tell the symbolism they came to embody and the
manner and consequences of their removal. History is not erased when statues are pulled down.
If anything it is made.
