Document Type
Humanities
Date
2024
Submission Date
May 2024
Abstract
In 2005, a sculpture titled “Thin Blue Line” was installed on the side of Richmond’s new Police Department Headquarters. The piece is made of metal bands woven together to resemble a giant face that looms a story above the road below it. Considering Richmond’s past use of public art as expressions of power, alongside the political evolution of the term “thin blue line,” this article seeks to deconstruct what this work conveys to its community and how it is received by its community. The aesthetic tradition both the piece and the artist evoke is Italian Futurism—a movement proven to be closely linked with fascism. Furthermore, its installation as a large face on the side of a state-sponsored headquarters has an uncanny resemblance to the cult of personality created around various dictators of the twentieth century. Finally, negative interactions with the piece during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 make it clear that the sculpture is not approved of by the community. Despite the claim that the piece was supposed to convey a sense of protection, much of the evidence proves the contrary—it is received as a symbol of intimidation and oppression.
Rights
© The Author(s)
Is Part Of
Auctus
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25886/cmrg-zr25