A sculpture designed as a protest against Confederate statues in Baltimore was removed from a park. Once indoors at the Copycat building in Station North, the artwork was defaced with racist graffiti.
The sculpture by artist Pablo Machioli depicts a black pregnant woman with a baby on her back. She is raising a golden fist in the air. Initially, the sculpture was on display at Baltimore’s Lee-Jackson Monument in Wyman Park Dell, City Paper reported in late October. Appearing at the same time as committee meetings were being held to determine the future of the city’s Confederate symbols, Machioli told Fox Baltimore it was designed to create “peaceful conversation.” But city officials had it removed since it was installed without permission.
Only after moving inside was it defaced. Someone got into the building, and wrote the n-word and “White Power” on the statue. La Bodega Gallery released surveillance footage on Facebook.
In response, Fox Baltimore reports that Copycat building artists and residents have responded by leaving messages, including one reading, “Your racism is not creative.” The building is also holding a pair of meetings this week to “come together as a community and get to know our neighbors.”
