Gordy327
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A Shahzia Sikander sculpture has become the subject of controversy after a powerful anti-abortion group claimed that the work promotes "satanic" imagery.
The sculpture, which was acclaimed by critics when it appeared in New York's Madison Square Park last year, was intended to explore the relationship between femininity and power.
Titled Witness (2023), the work features a female figure who levitates above the ground, her arms and legs dissolving into root-like forms. She dons the armature of a hoop skirt that contains mosaics depicting plants. She dons a lacy collar in allusion to similar ones worn by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court justice.
Sikander has said that the work, which debuted alongside another sculpture, was, in part, a response to the paring back of abortion rights in the United States, including the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
...Earlier this month, Texas Right to Life, a self-described "pro-life" organization that has been credited with helping to undo Roe v. Wade, claimed the work enlists "satanic imagery to honor abortion and memorialize the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg," although it did not describe what that imagery was. (Sikander's artist statement about the work contains no mention of satanism.)
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A Shahzia Sikander sculpture has become the subject of controversy after a powerful anti-abortion group claimed that the work promotes "satanic" imagery.
The sculpture, which was acclaimed by critics when it appeared in New York's Madison Square Park last year, was intended to explore the relationship between femininity and power.
Titled Witness (2023), the work features a female figure who levitates above the ground, her arms and legs dissolving into root-like forms. She dons the armature of a hoop skirt that contains mosaics depicting plants. She dons a lacy collar in allusion to similar ones worn by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court justice.
Sikander has said that the work, which debuted alongside another sculpture, was, in part, a response to the paring back of abortion rights in the United States, including the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
...Earlier this month, Texas Right to Life, a self-described "pro-life" organization that has been credited with helping to undo Roe v. Wade, claimed the work enlists "satanic imagery to honor abortion and memorialize the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg," although it did not describe what that imagery was. (Sikander's artist statement about the work contains no mention of satanism.)
---Continued---
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