Sculpture “Embrace” Hank Willis Thomas seemed obscene

Boston criticized its own “Big Clay”

Hugs by Hank Willis Thomas, dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, have been unveiled in Boston. The nearly seven-meter-tall monument drew mixed reviews and quickly became a meme. In social networks, ridicule appeared at the monument: supposedly it has an obscene connotation. The author himself was surprised by this reaction, because he made his sculpture based on a real photograph where King hugs his wife Coretta after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

“This work is about the ability of each of us to be wrapped in love, and I feel wrapped in love every time I hear the names and see the faces of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King,” the sculptor commented on his creation.

However, not everyone saw the same. Here are just a few comments: “A flagrant example of callousness and vanity!”; “Ten million dollars wasted to make masturbating metal”; “A dear and empty gesture.” Martin Luther King’s wife’s cousin said the sculpture “looks like a penis.”

“When creating any work of monumental art, which is planned to be placed in a public space, the author must study how this object, the monument will look from different sites and angles,” Inna Pulikova, a researcher at the Institute of Art Studies, tells MK. – Hank Willis Thomas took as the basis of the monument a fragment of a photograph of Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta embracing – their hands. The ambiguous public reaction to the monument (even polls were published on the Internet – what it looks like) suggests that one original concept is not enough. Still, a professional and objective assessment of the merits and demerits of a work is needed, especially such a resonant one that arouses increased interest. The fact that this was not done is not a unique case: this is not the first situation when a concept that is interesting on paper causes a negative reaction and uncomplimentary comparisons.

The sculpture of the Swiss artist Urs Fischer on Bolotnaya Embankment also caused a mixed reaction. The Big Clay installation in Moscow in August 2021 has become one of the most discussed events in Moscow. What they didn’t write about the monument, what they didn’t “water” with. And yet the disputants reconciled. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” experts said. This simple thought sobered criticism. Over time, they got used to abstract sculpture.

Perhaps The Embrace by Hank Willis Thomas will face a similar fate. Despite the flurry of criticism, many defended the monument, pointing to its poetic aspects. The work of the 46-year-old conceptual artist, however, thanks to this scandal, sounded to the whole world.