Bristol, England has now replaced the statue of slave trader Edward Colston with a sculpture of Black Lives Matter activist Jen Reid. The artist, Marc Quinn put out a statement on his work saying:
This sculpture captures a moment. It happened in the middle of the news and the worldwide ripple effect from George Floyd's killing, all of which I had been following. My friend who knew this showed me a picture on Instagram of Jen standing on the plinth in Bristol with her fist in a Black Power salute, who contacted Reid via social media to discuss the idea of the sculpture. My first, instant thought was how incredible it would be to make a sculpture of her, in that instant. It is such a powerful image, of a moment I felt had to be materialized, forever.
The mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, said the statue was not requested and permission was not given for it to be installed. People are proud of the statue and hope it stays.
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