The sculpture features a gold hand crushing the Statue of Liberty's crown, criticising authoritarianism. Photo / Maxine Wallace via the Washington Post
The sculpture features a gold hand crushing the Statue of Liberty's crown, criticising authoritarianism. Photo / Maxine Wallace via the Washington Post
Remember the poop sculpture? The curly-swirly pile of doo that sat atop a replica of former United States House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk?
The work of protest art was placed on the National Mall in Washington DC last October in mock tribute to the January 6 rioters who stormedthe US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Well, the artists responsible for the political poo plop appear to have struck again.
This time it is with a work called “Dictator Approved”, a 2.5m-tall sculpture showing a gold-painted hand with a distinctive thumbs-up quashing the sea foam green crown of the Statue of Liberty.
It sits at the same location on the Mall near Third Street NW as the poop sculpture did.
The artwork’s creators intended “Dictator Approved” as a rejoinder to the June 14 military parade and authoritarianism, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service.
The parade, the creators wrote in the application, “Will feature imagery similar to autocratic, oppressive regime, i.e. N. Korea, Russia, and China, marching through DC”.
The purpose of the artwork, they continued, is to call attention to “the praising these types of oppressive leaders have given Donald Trump”.
Plaques on the four sides of the artwork’s base show quotes from world leaders including: Russian President Vladimir Putin (“President Trump is a very bright and talented man”); Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (“The most respected, the most feared person is Donald Trump”); former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (“We do have a great deal of shared values. I admire President Trump”); and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (“Your Excellency.” A “special” relationship. “The extraordinary courage of President Trump”).
“If these Democrat activists were living in a dictatorship, their eye-sore of a sculpture wouldn’t be sitting on the National Mall right now,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, wrote in an emailed statement. “In the United States of America, you have the freedom to display your so-called ‘art’, no matter how ugly it is.”
Mary Harris is listed as the applicant for the permit but no contact information for her was provided. The permit allows the sculpture to be in place from 7am on June 16 until 5pm on June 22.
The “Dictator Approved” sculpture is very similar in style and materials to several protest artworks placed in the District, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, last year. However, no individual or group has publicly claimed responsibility for those pieces.
An unidentified caller and emailer told a Washington Post reporter last year that he was part of the group that worked on the sculptures and provided information about them that only someone who had installed the projects would know, such as when the works would appear.
Plaques quote leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un praising Donald Trump. Photo / Maxine Wallace via The Washington Post
His identity remains a mystery. On Wednesday he replied to a Washington Post email asking if he was involved with the new statue. “I have heard about it but not me,” he wrote. He did not respond to additional questions or a request to meet in an Arlington parking garage.
Some of the tourists and locals who stopped by the statue between downpours Wednesday afternoon expressed surprise that it was allowed to be placed where it was. And they expressed reservations about weighing in on it publicly.
“I’m amazed that whoever dreamed this up could put this here,” said Kuresa, an 80-year-old from Australia who declined to give his last name because he said as an international visitor he didn’t feel comfortable expressing his views. “It reminds me of ‘Animal Farm.’”
District resident and retired federal employee Yvette Hatfield stopped by with her dog Max, wearing an adorable raincoat and rain hat, to get a selfie of both of them in front of the statue. Asked why she wanted a photo, Hatfield laughed. “Because of my political views and that’s all I’m going to say.”
“I actually love it,” said another District resident. He declined to give his name because he said his parents and grandparents often told him “Fools’ names, like their faces, are always seen in public places.” He wished the reporter good luck with the story.
Francesca Carlo, 20, and Abigail Martin, 21, visiting from Cleveland, happened on the statue just before it started to pour.
“At first I was confused,” Martin said, “but then I figured it out. I think it’s beautiful.”
Carlo agreed. She thought the quotes on the plaques could send a message.
“If all these authoritarian politicians approve of our president then maybe people will see a pattern recognition and see where democracy is headed,” she said.
