Richmond celebrates sculpture, Olympics and Chinese New Year
Not far from where the Olympic cauldron will be lit Tuesday in Richmond, B.C., sits a large, stainless steel sculpture of Vladimir Lenin’s head.
On top of the communist leader`s noggin is a small Mao Zedong with breasts.
The provocative sculpture, “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head,” has literally stopped traffic at a busy intersection in this Olympic host city, where almost half the population is Chinese-Canadian.
“Everyone is very passionate about it,” said Miriam Blume, the media representative for the Vancouver Biennale, the group organizing the public art exhibition that includes the sculpture. It will remain on display until 2011.
At first, she said there were complaints that the sculpture may be a memorial to the controversial Communist leaders. But she said other people thought it was “fabulous.”
“It’s proof that in Canada we have free speech and it’s a democracy and our politicians don’t pick public art,” she said.
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