This may get the White House's attention.
Organizers of the “Catharsis on the Mall” event and activists are working to bring a 45-foot-tall sculpture of a nude woman to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to bring attention to a problem that — much like the larger than life statue — cannot be ignored: violence against women.
The sculpture, called “R-Evolution” is currently in San Francisco, but organizers are trying to raise funds to move the 16,000-pound artwork to D.C., where they plan to have it face the White House for four months, according to the Washington Post. It would be featured as part of “Catharsis on the Mall,” an annual event bringing community, art, and discussion together to “facilitate seeing and healing for wounds in ourselves, each other and in our society,” the event’s website says.
“R-Evolution” is a steel statute of a woman standing very, very tall, giving off a sense of empowerment with her arms displayed powerfully beside her, and was originally displayed at the Burning Man festival in 2015, the Washington Post reported.
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Though the event itself is lasts only a weekend, activists and the event organizers want the statue to remain on the National Mall through March 2018 to make a larger statement about women’s empowerment and violence against women.
R-Evolution by Marco Cochrane. #marcocochrane#revolution#thevlissproject burningman #bm2015pic.twitter.com/7MWFxw4fIy
— Wobs (@wobsarazzi) September 9, 2015
“We need to show women just being in their bodies, just being humans, as an antidote of the constant sexualization of women's bodies, the constant dehumanization,” Marco Cochrane, the artist, said. Cochrane created “R-Evolution” as part of The Bliss Project and said the work is meant to challenge societal norms that simultaneously sexualize and dehumanize women, USA Today reported.
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Cochrane’s collaborator and partner, Julia Whitelaw, said that by featuring “R-Evolution” on the National Mall, “We are asking the question: What would the world be like if women were safe? We are asking people to imagine that.”
Whitelaw told the New York Times they have been planning to feature "R-Evolution" at the "Catharsis on the Mall" event since before Trump was elected to office and that bringing the sculpture to the mall was not a move targetting Trump. But she also expressed hope that "he will see this sculpture and come experience her and change his perspective."
So far, organizers have raised 30% of the $90,000 it will cost to transport “R-Evolution” through a crowdfunding campaign, but Whitelaw remains optimistic. She told USA Today that she’s confident many people are excited that the artwork would be "supporting the end of violence against women and equal rights for women right there in the heart of the nation."