Bristol, slaver statue torn down has been replaced with one of a BLM activist. Which has already been removed

It lasted only two days for the statue installed, in Bristol, on the base of the monument to slave trader Edward Colston, torn down in early June during a demonstration in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Day before yesterday, sculptor Marc Quinn had in fact erected a new bronze sculpture, depicting a Black Lives Matter activist, Jen Reid, standing with an outstretched fist, in place of the statue that ended up in the waters of the English city’s harbor last month.

Images of Jen Reid had spread across the web in the moments of the protest, when the young woman had climbed onto the empty base and raised her fist, in the famous Black Power salute gesture. A “spontaneous” action, it had been called by the protester herself, who had wanted, by her action, to express her closeness to the slaves who had ended up in Colston’s hands.

Quinn decided to create his sculpture, titled A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, precisely on the basis of that image, which the artist himself called “powerful” and a photograph “of a moment that I thought should remain materialized forever.” The problem, however, is that the work was installed without the permission of the authorities, a move that irritated quite a few, and not only at the institutional level, since there was an ongoing discussion about how to fill that void, and the idea of commissioning a black artist to create a work was also circulating. Indeed, it was even seen as a gesture of prevarication, since Quinn, in order to be able to do this operation, put forth economic resources that others could not afford.

“The sculpture,” Marvin Rees, mayor of Bristol, later clarified in a note, “is the work of a London-based artist who was not asked for and did not receive permits to be installed.” Quinn, for his part, simply stated that it seemed to him that the time was right for direct action. A direct action that was short-lived, however: the statue was in fact removed after a few hours. Mayor Rees stated that it was up to the citizens of Bristol to decide how to replace Colston’s statue. The work was taken to the Bristol Museum: the artist will decide whether to donate it to the museum or use it to raise money for the cause.

Bristol, slaver statue torn down has been replaced with one of a BLM activist. Which has already been removed

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