Bristol artist Marc Quinn has erected a statue of Black Lives Matter protester Jen Reid atop the plinth once occupied by the toppled statue of a slave trader.
Quinn created the likeness of Jen Reid, a protester photographed standing on the plinth after demonstrators pulled down the statue of Edward Colston and dumped it in Bristol's harbor on June 7.
The statue, titled "A Surge of Power (Jen Reid)" was erected before dawn on Wednesday without approval from city officials.
"The sculpture that has been installed today was the work and decision of a London based artist. It was not requested and permission was not given for it to be installed," Mayor Marvin Rees said in a statement on Wednesday.
"To this end, the future of the plinth and what is installed on it must be decided by the people of Bristol. This will be critical to building a city that is home to those who are elated at the statue being pulled down, those who sympathize with its removal but are dismayed at how it happened and those who feel that in its removal, they’ve lost a piece of the Bristol they know and therefore themselves," Rees said.
Colston was a 17th-century trader who made a fortune transporting enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas. His money funded schools and charities in Bristol, 120 miles (195 kilometers) southwest of London.The toppling of his statue is part of a worldwide reckoning with racism and slavery sparked by the death of a Black American man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis, in May.
Quinn, one of Britain's best-known sculptors, said Reid had "created the sculpture when she stood on the plinth and raised her arm in the air. Now we're crystallizing it." Reid told The Guardian newspaper that the new statue was "incredible" and would help "continue the conversation."
City authorities fished the Colston statue out of the harbor and say it will be placed in a museum, along with placards from the Black Lives Matter demonstration.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: [ Ссылка ]
QUICKTAKE ON SOCIAL:
Follow QuickTake on Twitter: twitter.com/quicktake
Like QuickTake on Facebook: facebook.com/quicktake
Follow QuickTake on Instagram: instagram.com/quicktake
Subscribe to our newsletter: [ Ссылка ]
Email us at quicktakenews@gmail.com
QuickTake by Bloomberg is a global news network delivering up-to-the-minute analysis on the biggest news, trends and ideas for a new generation of leaders.
