Its £17m price tag was branded an insult to the poor. Now Senegal‘s giant monument to the "African Renaissance" is in trouble again – for an offensive display of women’s legs.
The 49-metre bronze group of man, woman and infant perched on a hill overlooking the capital Dakar, and due to be inaugurated in April, is bigger than New York’s Statue of Liberty.
But the pet project of president Abdoulaye Wade has been mired in controversy and condemned by religious leaders. Christians objected when he compared it to Jesus Christ, while Muslims, who make up 94% of the population, said it was "idolatrous" for presenting the human form as an object of worship.
"Our problem is with the woman’s bare legs," architect and Wade adviser Pierre Goudiaby Atepa told Reuters, referring to the thigh-length hemline of the female figure’s tunic.
"Right from the start President Wade pointed out the bare legs and asked if we couldn’t put it right. I’ve given him an estimate for doing that and it’s up to him to decide."
An official in Wade’s office said any decision on whether to remodel the statue, likely to be a costly procedure, had not yet been taken.
Wade has already been forced to apologise to Senegal’s Christian minority after publicly likening the statue to Christ. Theodore Adrien Sarr, the archbishop of Dakar, said the comment had "shaken and humiliated" Catholics, prompting angry protests by hundreds of young Christians.
Wade, 83, has said he was personally involved in designing the statue, which in style is more reminiscent of Soviet-style socialist realism than traditional African art forms. Nearly 50 North Korean workers were drafted in to build it.
The towering structure has sparked debate about the purpose of public art. It is intended to symbolise Africa’s renaissance and prove that the continent can build its own monuments to rival those bequeathed by European colonialists.
But its detractors argue that Senegal could better use the funds to modernise its crumbling infrastructure. Impoverished residents in the monument’s shadow endure incessant power blackouts and flooding.
Penda Mbow, professor of history at Dakar university, said: "The problem is the monument itself, not whether her skirt is lengthened or not.
"The problem is that it shows a woman with a secondary role on the continent, which is historically not accurate," said Mbow of the impression that the female figure is subjugated to the male in the group.
Dakar residents were bemused by the latest fuss over the project, which promoters hope will become a major tourist draw.
"I think they should have thought about this before, they’ve spent so many millions on it already," said student Penda Dethie Nael, 22. "The money could be going elsewhere."
David Smith, The Guardian, 05.01.10
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/05/senegal-statue-offensive-woman-legs
Nulla dies sine linea 