A bronze sculpture called The Embrace honoring Martin Luther King Jr. was unveiled Friday in Boston, but the 20-feet long and 26-feet wide bronze sculpture is drawing a lot of mixed reviews.
The bronze structure, designed by conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, depicts the arms, shoulders, and hands of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King hugging after he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Plenty of social media users joined in to share their confusion about how Thomas designed the sculpture.
“I have some questions about the MLK sculpture in Boston,” said one social media user.
“I can’t make any sense out of it,” wrote another Twitter user.
When other social media users posted the famous photo of the Kings embracing that inspired the sculpture, other social media users asked, “So how does that sculpture represent the pic?”
“Not in any way,” replied another social media user.
Conservative author Christina Hoff Sommers responded, “Should have been lovely & inspiring — instead it’s hideous and depressing.”
“Why not just a statue of MLK. Why this random thing?” asked a Twitter user.
The Boston Arts Council approved the sculpture in a March 2021 vote, and it cost $9.5 million. It is reportedly the largest monument in the country dedicated to racial equity.
The sculpture’s location is where Martin Luther King Jr. had led 20,000 people in 1965 to protest segregation in schools. King earned his Ph.D. in theology from Boston University in 1955 and met his wife Coretta while she was a music education student at the New England Conservatory of Music.
“I love this monument, I also see the love and strength and unity in these hands and how they symbolize a beautiful marriage and partnership. And it was one that changed the world,” said Yolanda Renee King, a granddaughter of the Kings.
Actress and singer Stacy Francis called the sculpture, “So beautiful.”
* Article from: The Washington Examiner