As if Nothing Could Fall: Essays on Monuments

Paper Visual Art Journal, 2026, Paperback, 200 pages, 15 x 11 cm

As if nothing could fall: Essays on monuments takes us through distant vistas and past worlds, monolithic structures and forgotten ideas. These seventeen new personal essays, from some of the most brilliant writers at work today, reflect on how and why we imbue the objects around us with memory.

From the epic megastructure to the fleeting memorial, the writers assembled here explore the mechanisms of monuments, the carving of totems to mark the passage of time, from the grand narratives of history to the intimate personal memories prompted by a photo album, a car ride, a gate. Throughout there appears a profound curiosity and questioning of not just the multivalent meanings of monuments but also of the importance and fragility of the forces that seem to hold them in place. As if nothing could fall is a compilation of recollections, a sequence of encounters with monuments of all shapes and sizes.

With contributions by Julie Bates, Amit Chaudhuri, Gavin Corbett, Beulah Ezeugo, Niven Govinden, Neil Hegarty, Dan Hicks, Roisin Kiberd, Sean Lynch, Gail McConnell, Belinda McKeon, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Rebecca O’Dwyer, Lara Pawson, Slinko, Lynne Tillman, and John Tuomey.