Hong Kong protesters erect Statue of Liberty paid for with S$36,000 crowdfunded within 6 hours

Looks like Ant-Man.

Guan Zhen Tan | September 01, 2019, 02:20 AM

Protestors in Hong Kong have crowdfunded their very own version of the Statue of Liberty.

A statue as a symbol

The Lady Liberty Hong Kong project was organised by an anonymous group of art and design enthusiasts recruited through the LIHKG forum, Hong Kong's version of Reddit.

The goal was to gather enough funds to create a sculpture inspired by protesters on the frontlines.

The final statue?

It looks a bit like Ant-Man, as the bug-eyed statue also comes decked out with a face mask.

Woman statue

The choice of a Lady Liberty was influenced by the incident on Aug. 11, where a protester’s eye was allegedly ruptured by a bean bag round fired by the police.

The female protester has since become an important visual metaphor for the Hong Kong protesters as a collective, and as a united symbol of their struggle and fight.

The statue would then be the "perfect medium to cohere Hongkongers, awe the anti-democratic forces, draw global attention, pay homage to those who have made sacrifices, and unite local democratic fighters".

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="630"] Image via Lady Liberty's GoGetFunding's page[/caption]

Crowdfunded in six hours

The sculpture is modelled after a woman decked out in an average protester's signature protective gear, with a helmet, goggles and a mask.

The sculpture is also depicted carrying an umbrella and a flag with the words, "Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now."

The prototypes and designs had depicted the goggle visor being broken on the right side, but the final sculpture did not include that detail.

According to the crowdfunding page, all members of the team who worked on the sculpture are volunteers and will not receive any remuneration from the production of the Lady Liberty Hong Kong project.

The project, which began on Aug. 24, has since hit its target of HK$200,000 (S$35,377) within six hours after the launch of the crowdfunding campaign on Aug. 27.

The page has stopped receiving donations, with 1,403 backers having raised a total of HK$203,933 (S$36,072)

Image via Lady Liberty's GoGetFunding's page

The completed sculpture has since been erected at the Cultural Square, located opposite the Benjamin Franklin Centre at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

https://www.facebook.com/RTHKVNEWS/posts/2772045009570204?__tn__=H-R

More statues in the pipeline

The funds for the project was not just for a one-off statue, but it was also to allow the team to operate with more projects in the pipeline, such as the production of "flash statues" and permanent exhibitions of the main statue.

The team had planned for 20 additional statues to be made and placed at symbolic locations such as outside the Hong Kong Government HQ, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government and even museums.

Details on the additional statues will be provided at a later date.

If there are excess funds or if the remaining funds are enough to cover the cost of the additional statues, the money will be donated to 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which looks to cover the legal fees of arrested protesters.

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Top photo adapted via 香港電台視像新聞 RTHK VNEWS' Facebook post