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Get this, people in Jamaica are flipped out because the sculpture of a slave has a penis thats considered so big to be offensive and vulgar to many. Link to story:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6498941.htm
Emancipation sculpture uncovers conservative streak in Jamaicans
BY DAVID PAULIN
Special to The Herald
KINGSTON - The colossal sculpture of two former slaves, a man and woman, unveiled recently in a corner of Emancipation Park commemorates the liberation of Jamaica's slaves.
But many Jamaicans are upset because the figures are naked. And the figures, they say, are just too anatomically correct and the man is just too well-endowed.
The sculpture generated immediate conflict for many in this former British colony, which has a conservative streak despite its international image for pot smoking and reggae music. Many Jamaicans boast that the island of 2.6 million has the most churches per capita in the world.
The 3,320-pound bronze sculpture, called Redemption Song, was unveiled on July 31. It portrays the former slaves standing in a four-foot-high water-filled basin and gazing wistfully toward the sky.
When visitors first see the monument, their eyes slowly take in the statues' well-toned bodies -- his 11 feet tall and hers 10 feet. And then they invariably settle on its most talked about and most controversial feature: the man's penis.
The larger-than-life forms have ignited a debate about art and taste, amid wisecracks and snickers.
Some say the anatomy controversy plays to racist stereotypes. Others criticize what they perceive as inappropriate European characteristics in the woman's face. Others say the figures reflect pride in Jamaica's African roots.
The controversy has played out on radio talk shows, in newspaper columns and on editorial pages.
Mark Wignall, a columnist for the Kingston newspaper The Observer, poked fun at a popular radio personality, Mutty Perkins, who had derided the sculpture. His column's title: Perkins and the emancipated penis.
Just because Europe's classical statues had small penises, Wignall wrote, does not mean Jamaica must follow suit.
One result of the controversy is that the monument has attracted large crowds.
''Personally, I don't have a problem with it,'' said Derval Davis, 20, a computer technician who was among hundreds of people recently visiting the sculpture. ``But I think more discretion should have been shown, considering the younger people who come to the park.''
''I'm seeing it for the first time. I think it's perfect,'' said Roy Douglas, 53, a contractor. ``It represents purity.''
That was one intention of 49-year-old Jamaican sculptor Laura Facey-Cooper, who created the $75,000 work.
''I am not taking it personally,'' she said of the public criticism.
She intended to represent Jamaica's slaves after their emancipation 165 years ago, as they basked ``in a healing stream . . . a baptism pool.''
''Their freedom is a rebirth into a new life,'' she said.
About the male's most-talked-about feature, Facey-Cooper said: ``I did not particularly enlarge that part of the male body to the exclusion of anything else. He has very strong muscles in his torso and buttocks. Both the male and female are very well-endowed in every possible way.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6498941.htm
Emancipation sculpture uncovers conservative streak in Jamaicans
BY DAVID PAULIN
Special to The Herald
KINGSTON - The colossal sculpture of two former slaves, a man and woman, unveiled recently in a corner of Emancipation Park commemorates the liberation of Jamaica's slaves.
But many Jamaicans are upset because the figures are naked. And the figures, they say, are just too anatomically correct and the man is just too well-endowed.
The sculpture generated immediate conflict for many in this former British colony, which has a conservative streak despite its international image for pot smoking and reggae music. Many Jamaicans boast that the island of 2.6 million has the most churches per capita in the world.
The 3,320-pound bronze sculpture, called Redemption Song, was unveiled on July 31. It portrays the former slaves standing in a four-foot-high water-filled basin and gazing wistfully toward the sky.
When visitors first see the monument, their eyes slowly take in the statues' well-toned bodies -- his 11 feet tall and hers 10 feet. And then they invariably settle on its most talked about and most controversial feature: the man's penis.
The larger-than-life forms have ignited a debate about art and taste, amid wisecracks and snickers.
Some say the anatomy controversy plays to racist stereotypes. Others criticize what they perceive as inappropriate European characteristics in the woman's face. Others say the figures reflect pride in Jamaica's African roots.
The controversy has played out on radio talk shows, in newspaper columns and on editorial pages.
Mark Wignall, a columnist for the Kingston newspaper The Observer, poked fun at a popular radio personality, Mutty Perkins, who had derided the sculpture. His column's title: Perkins and the emancipated penis.
Just because Europe's classical statues had small penises, Wignall wrote, does not mean Jamaica must follow suit.
One result of the controversy is that the monument has attracted large crowds.
''Personally, I don't have a problem with it,'' said Derval Davis, 20, a computer technician who was among hundreds of people recently visiting the sculpture. ``But I think more discretion should have been shown, considering the younger people who come to the park.''
''I'm seeing it for the first time. I think it's perfect,'' said Roy Douglas, 53, a contractor. ``It represents purity.''
That was one intention of 49-year-old Jamaican sculptor Laura Facey-Cooper, who created the $75,000 work.
''I am not taking it personally,'' she said of the public criticism.
She intended to represent Jamaica's slaves after their emancipation 165 years ago, as they basked ``in a healing stream . . . a baptism pool.''
''Their freedom is a rebirth into a new life,'' she said.
About the male's most-talked-about feature, Facey-Cooper said: ``I did not particularly enlarge that part of the male body to the exclusion of anything else. He has very strong muscles in his torso and buttocks. Both the male and female are very well-endowed in every possible way.''
