Just Dust: The Material Matter of Angelo di Benedetto’s <italic>Justice Through the Ages</italic>.

The removal and destruction of Angelo di Benedetto’s <italic>Justice Through the Ages</italic> mural (1976-1977) from the Colorado State Judicial Building in 2010 marked the loss of a civic icon by a local Denver artist. The mural did not have controversial imagery; rather, its toxic substance (i.e., asbestos) determined administrators’ push for demolition. Far from a thoughtless choice, however, di Benedetto’s use of compressed asbestos panels was in line with a career spent selecting materials for their formal and functional possibilities. This article considers how the end stage of the mural exposes public art’s material matters. When fear of invisible fibers floating in the air became a significant concern, a three-decade-old mural was reduced to just dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]