Cassandra Press, A Monument A Ruin

A historic first, CIRCA and Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters present A Monument A Ruin by Cassandra Press, a publishing platform founded in 2016 by critically acclaimed artist Kandis Williams. The new work – a short video-lecture in which ancient street inscriptions collide with contemporary protest graffiti to question the nature of monuments – will appear every evening throughout February at 20:22 on London’s iconic Piccadilly Lights and broadcast across a network of screens in Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo. 

In the wake of Black Lives Matter’s global uprisings in 2020, the use and symbology of graffiti in public spaces have taken on new and powerful significance prompting an urgent reflection on the meaning and manifestation of “collective history” in the public domain, particularly in the context of modern monuments, memorials and statues tied to slavery and colonialism. 

A Monument A Ruin draws on the recovery by archaeologists of an exceptional amount of tituli picti – an ancient form of urban graffiti, including slogans and electoral propaganda (programmata) – painted across the streets of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, buried under volcanic ashes in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. These inscriptions provide a dense narrative of the daily concerns of Pompeian society, including the political agency of groups such as women and slaves who were not permitted to vote. 

In Cassandra Press’ new commission for CIRCA, the ancient street markings are overlaid with contemporary issues of political agency and visibility of socially oppressed groups in today’s Western societies. Evolving from Williams’ participation in Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters – the first research and contemporary art programme commissioned by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii -, A Monument A Ruin constructs a complex composite of layered photographs, footage, texts and audio that unravel with movement and dialogue to bridge the past and present into simultaneous focus. Photographer Brandon English collaborated with Cassandra Press on a new series of photographs shot in situ at Pompeii over two nights in Summer 2021, projecting his visual accounts of the protests and assemblies in 2020 by New York abolitionist groups onto different buildings and frescoes in Pompeii, and now appearing on buildings around the world this February.

Kandis Williams is an American artist, writer, publisher and educator whose practice examines the intersections of race, power, history and representation. Working across collage, film, performance, publishing and research, she creates frameworks that bring together critical theory, lived experience and visual culture, exploring how social, political and historical narratives are constructed, transmitted and challenged.

Central to Williams’ practice is Cassandra Press, the artist-run publishing and educational platform she founded in 2016. Originally conceived as a space for disseminating texts on race, feminism, aesthetics and Black scholarship, Cassandra Press has since evolved into an influential multidisciplinary platform encompassing publishing, exhibitions, classrooms, workshops and collaborative research. Through its activities, Cassandra Press has become an important site for critical dialogue, collective learning and the circulation of ideas across contemporary culture.

In 2022, Williams collaborated with CIRCA and Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters on A Monument A Ruin, a landmark public commission that connected ancient inscriptions discovered in Pompeii with contemporary protest graffiti and questions of political agency in public space. Appearing across public screens in London, Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo, the project transformed years of archaeological research into a global conversation about monuments, memory and the voices that endure through history. The commission reflected a shared commitment between Williams and CIRCA to using public space as a platform for critical reflection, collective inquiry and new forms of cultural exchange.

Williams has exhibited internationally and participated in major institutional exhibitions including The Whitney Biennial, the Hammer Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, and Kunsthalle Basel, among others. Through her work as both artist and educator, she continues to challenge conventional structures of knowledge while creating new spaces for dialogue, learning and social transformation.