{"id":85045,"date":"2017-09-30T13:14:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-30T17:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=85045"},"modified":"2017-09-30T13:14:37","modified_gmt":"2017-09-30T17:14:37","slug":"giant-nude-sculpture-being-erected-in-the-national-mall-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=85045","title":{"rendered":"Giant Nude Sculpture Being Erected In The National Mall&#8212;Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-QTN-GjfRxOk\" class=\"story-asset story-metadata-asset\">\n<div class=\"article-metadata-wrap\">\n<section id=\"module-position-QTN-Gjd1kdo\" class=\"storymetadata-bucket expandable-photo-module story-expandable-photo-module\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo expandable-collapsed\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\">Here&#8217;s why a 45-foot tall nude sculpture may be coming to the National Mall<\/h1>\n<p>N&#8217;dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY<\/p>\n<p class=\"image-credit-wrap\"><span class=\"js-caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Vladimir Herrera)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">If you walk along the National Mall this November, you&#8217;ll see the Smithsonian Museums, the Washington Monument, Capitol Hill, and, possibly, something else: a 45-foot tall nude sculpture of a woman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The Amazonian figure would tower over\u00a0the National Mall next to the Washington Monument, directly facing the White House until March 28 to promote women&#8217;s equality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Organizers are trying to raise funds to transport the\u00a0<em>R-Evolution<\/em>\u00a0sculpture from San Francisco to Washington. They&#8217;ve gotten approval from the National Park Service to have the structure on the grounds of the National Mall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Event organizers have raised more than $21,000 in four days to transport the sculpture across the country and assemble it, although they still have a long way to go to meet\u00a0their 30-day fundraising goal of\u00a0$90,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The organizers have also put out a nationwide call for volunteers. After the event ends, the sculpture can remain on the Mall for four months, if it is guarded by volunteers at all times.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ad-position-67\" class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-monetization-id=\"native-article_link\" data-monetization-sizes=\"fluid,3,3\">\n<div id=\"ad-slot-7103-usatoday-native-article_link-news-69\" class=\"ad-slot\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/usatoday\/native-article_link\/news_0__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/usatoday\/native-article_link\/news_0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/usatoday\/native-article_link\/news_0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The sculpture\u00a0was created by artist Marco Cochrane as part of The Bliss Project. He said the sculpture\u00a0was meant to combat a culture that increasingly dehumanizes women and sexualizes the female form.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><em>R-Evolution\u00a0<\/em>is just one of three giant nude female sculptures Cochrane created with his model and collaborator\u00a0Deja Solis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">He said the series spawned from an idea of feminine safety that he says he&#8217;s been wrestling with\u00a0since the age of seven, when he learned that a friend had been sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThese sculptures are about expressing what it would be like if women were safe,\u201d Cochrane said.\u00a0&#8220;To me this sculpture answers that question . . . She\u2019s absolutely fearless and accepting and being able to do that is a really powerful thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Julia Whitelaw, Cochrane\u2019s creative partner, said\u00a0his early sculptures were often so life-like that people felt uncomfortable looking at them, until he scaled them up \u2014 way up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThere was such this taboo that was happening,\u201d she said. \u201cMen would walk in, look at the sculpture, and they would have to avert their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Cochrane was inspired to take his art to new heights by the burning effigies at Burning Man. Instead of working in bronze or clay, he created\u00a0massive sculptures out of steel rods, tubing, mesh and LED lights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cIt made it okay to look at them,\u201d Whitelaw said. \u201cPeople feel emotionally connected to these sculptures, they don\u2019t focus on the physical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">In 2015, the series debuted where it was born, at Burning Man.\u00a0The other two pieces,\u00a0<em>Bliss Dance<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Truth is Beauty<\/em>, have found homes on the Las Vegas Strip and the San Leandro Tech Campus in California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The sculpture is being brought to Washington, D.C.\u00a0by\u00a0the organizers of Catharsis on the Mall, an annual three-day event that features 24-hour activities, music and an effigy burn.\u00a0The theme of the event this year is &#8220;Nurturing the Heart.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;This year&#8217;s theme\u00a0is in response to a lot of the social disconnect and politics going on in our community right now,&#8221; said Sanam Ememi, an activist and community organizer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;We felt that\u00a0<em>R-Evolution<\/em>\u00a0represented that,&#8221; she said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why\u00a0we\u2019ve placed it in America\u2019s front lawn.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The four-month long vigil is also intended to raise awareness\u00a0of the Equal Rights Amendment. The constitutional amendment,\u00a0proposed in 1972, would outlaw discrimination based on sex, but it has yet to be ratified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The sculptures will inevitably produce some controversy wherever they go, but Whitelaw said she&#8217;s confident that there are plenty of people excited to have art &#8220;supporting the end of violence against women and equal rights for women right there in the heart of the nation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2017\/09\/29\/heres-why-45-ft-tall-nude-sculpture-coming-national-mall\/718238001\/#\">http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2017\/09\/29\/heres-why-45-ft-tall-nude-sculpture-coming-national-mall\/718238001\/#<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}