Itโs been said that โart is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation.โ But for a new sculpture honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., some beholders are interpreting it as insulting. The monument, called โThe Embrace,โ was inspired by an image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hugging his wife, Coretta Scott King, after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. But since its reveal in Boston Common last week, the sculpture has received mixed reviews.
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Only the coupleโs arms are represented in the 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide statue, designed by a Brooklyn-based artist Hank Willis Thomas. And as more and more people get a glimpse of the completed piece, Twitter has erupted with comments from confused folks who couldnโt understand why the artist left out the rest of the Kingsโ body parts. Some have even suggested that from some angles, the sculpture looks like a sex act.
For his part, the Kingโs son, Martin Luther King III, defended the artistโs work, saying he was โmovedโ by the sculpture. And in an interview with CNNโs Don Lemon to commemorate the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, he said he wasnโt bothered by the fact that only his parentsโ arms appear.
โIโm satisfied,โ he said. โYeah, it didnโt have my mom and dadโs images, but it represents something that brings people together. And in this day and age, when thereโs so much division, we need symbols that talk about bringing us together.โ
But other family members have not been as kind and have not held back on throwing shade at the new statue. Seneca Scott, one of Coretta Scott Kingโs cousins, has not been shy about making his dislike for the statue known, even calling for someone to โmelt it down,โ on Twitter. โI still canโt get over how they tried to play my fam,โ Scott wrote in a January 15 tweet.
Embrace Boston, a nonprofit racial justice organization that was instrumental in the creation of โThe Embraceโ has not commented on the criticism.
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