A British biracial sculptor by the name of Thomas J Price has incited controversy over his sculpture, Grounded in the Stars, which is a depiction of a full-figured Black woman in everyday clothes, standing with her hands on her hips. The sculpture, which is not permanent and will be moved on June 17, has angered some Black people and racist whites for different reasons.
The statue is in the middle of Times Square, the same Times Square where waif-thin models are sprayed on large billboards for everyone to see. The criticism from Black people is hypocritical, and the criticism from white people mirrors the same sentiments of Hitler’s campaign against what he referred to as Entartete Kunst, or in English, Degenerate Art, which was one of many propaganda campaigns propagated by a certain loser who wasn’t creative enough to get into art school, so he had to hate on abstract artists, most specifically in an attempt to silence artists who may be critical about fascism. More modern forms of art were prohibited; they liked to stick to the classics as a nod to racial purity.
Sidenote: the coolest thing about history is that you don’t even have to pay attention to how awful something is, in order to do that same exact thing.
When it comes to Black people who are angry about the statue, one social media user, @MERMAYDE expressed that she felt that this was part of an agenda to always negatively depict Black women.
throughout the discourse of the statue, no one has been able to explain why other demographics of women who are also majority heavyset, manage to not get portrayed that way at the rate we do. no one.
— water girl (@MERMAYYDE) May 12, 2025
This woman is also so unfamiliar with the artist’s work, that she condensed his entire body of work into one piece, as if the first time he ever made a sculpture it just happened to end up in Times Square, when in fact, Price has art exhibitions depicting Black people in all shapes and sizes, in exhibitions all over the world.
Some people criticized the statue as looking angry, despite there being no frown on the face of the sculpture. One woman hated the depiction so much that she had a petition for its removal drawn. Another woman countered her and stated that she liked the statue because it was a representation of who she was, and while Black women do come in all shapes and sizes, it a bit disingenuous to act as if this is not a depiction of many Black women—even it is not us specifically, it is women we know, it is women we love and it is women who deserve to see themselves in the same place where they walk every single day.
White conservatives argue against the removal of statues for people who fought to OWN people, but the depiction of a non-descript, non-problematic Black woman has them up in arms.
An example of this is mirrored right in Matt Walsh’s comments, where he incites other racists to be terrible examples of human beings, by user @trad_rebel, who parroted the same sentiment spread throughout a budding Nazi Germany, during the ‘Degenerate Art,’ exhibitions.
Christian Art ✝️ >>> pic.twitter.com/exASQiRRzh
— The Tradition Rebellion ???????? (@trad_rebel) May 7, 2025
White men can have committed the most heinous acts, but as long as the rest of their accomplishments look good in a history book, then it’s all good.
Many are asking why the person, whether real or imagined, needed a sculpture, but why does anyone need one, if that’s the case? The sculpture the ‘Le Penseur,’ also known as “The Thinker,” is nothing but a naked man thinking about some shit.
Sometimes naked people think about shit, and that’s okay.
When it comes to Black people desiring an inclusive representation, apparently, that inclusivity still has exclusions. Black women do not have to be waifishly thin with long curly hair and European features to be considered good enough to be representatives. How hypocritical is it that only a certain beauty standard gets to be the mascot of Blackness? White people do not own art; their desire to be the most noticeable flavor in the American melting pot does not mean they have the best taste.
While people are arguing in the comments about why this is or isn’t suitable art, that’s exactly what makes this that very thing—it challenges the status quo. It angers. It elicits emotions, it’s provocative and even when it’s just standing there—with its hands on its hips, not moving—it still gets the people going.
