Twitter users had a filled day after a bizarre statue was erected in front of a New York City courthouse. According to The New York Times, the statue was installed as part of an exhibition that opened last week and is the first female to adorn one of the courthouse’s ten plinths.
The statue, which was erected in honor of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and her fight for abortion, is part of an “urgent and necessary cultural reckoning” underway as the city reconsiders traditional representation of power, according to Shahzia Sikander, the artist.
“She is a fierce woman and a form of resistance in a space that has historically been dominated by patriarchal representation,” said Sikander.
Sikander, who previously served on the New York Mayoral Advisory Commission of City Art, Monuments and Markers, added that the statue was named “NOW” because it was needed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
The statue, named "NOW", is a female figure emerging from a pink lotus. It has braids shaped as horns with a judicial lace apron. It is meant to pay homage to Ruth Bader Ginsberg and her fight for abortion.
— Andrew Beck (@AndrewBeckUSA) January 25, 2023
The statue takes the form of a female figure emerging from a pink lotus flower and has horn-shaped braids with a judicial apron on its chest.
A new statue atop a New York City courthouse. The artist says it’s part of an “urgent and necessary cultural reckoning underway as New York reconsiders traditional representations of power in public spaces and recasts civic structures to better reflect 21st-century social mores.” pic.twitter.com/4IFRj7hCsf
— Andrew Beck (@AndrewBeckUSA) January 25, 2023
However, the woke intention behind the statue’s erection drew condemnation from Twitter users.
Ben Shapiro, Former editor-at-large of Breitbart News and host of The Ben Shapiro Show, described the statue as “RBG Medusa.” Shapiro joked that a gaze upon the statue will turn “your uterus” to stone.
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1618387479631114243?s=20&t=29nOfPTUCsmA5lzl14HjEQ
Former Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump and Founder of America First Legal, Stephen Miller, described the statue as a “visual desecration of the landscape.”
What a visual desecration of the landscape.
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 25, 2023
One Twitter user lamented that the country is descending into ancient Sumerian deity territory.
“We don’t know we are summoning demons,” the user wrote.
We are descending into ancient Sumerian deity territory; we don't know we are summoning demons. https://t.co/BQEdYxH0sL
— Peachy Keenan (@KeenanPeachy) January 25, 2023
One user revealed that although he was not a fan of the late Supreme Court justice, she deserves better than the “satanic-looking eyesore.”
I wasn't a fan of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, but even she deserves better than that ugly, satanic-looking eyesore.
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) January 25, 2023
