A bronze sculpture by Shahzia Sikander at the University of Houston in Texas has been vandalised. The damage was done on 8 July during a statewide power outage due to Hurricane Beryl.
Titled Witness (2023), the 5.5-metre public sculpture depicts a female figure with limbs resembling tree roots and braided hair in the shape of ram horns. The figure dons a dress with exposed crinoline covered in Urdu calligraphy and a lace collar, which has been interpreted as an reference to the similar ones worn by the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a proponent of abortion rights in the US legal system.
The sculpture was first displayed in New York’s Madison Square Park for five months and received critical acclaim. However, upon its arrival in Houston, it drew immediate criticism from anti-abortion Christian group Texas Right to Life which considered it ‘satanic’. Anti-abortion protests around the campus that ensued had led to the cancellation of both the work’s unveiling and a talk by Sikander. An accompanying video work by the artist was also withheld from display.
‘The damage is believed to be intentional,’ Kevin Quinn, executive director of media relations at the University of Houston, told the New York Times. ‘The University of Houston Police Department is currently investigating the matter.’
Footage of the vandalism was obtained by campus police, according to the New York Times.
30 July: In a Washington Post article, Shahzia Sikander says that she has decided not to repair the public sculpture and will leave it as it is. In this way the sculpture will serve as ‘a testament to the hatred and division that permeate our society,’ she writes.
