Though “selfie” was the Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year way back in 2013, it had yet to be canonized in the form of a public sculpture. That is, until Sugar Land, Texas, took matters into its own hands.
The town recently erected a statue of two young women taking a selfie in front of its city hall.
Resident Sandy Levin donated the statue, according to meeting minutes provided by the town. The selfie statue is the second of a 10-piece donation, the first being a guitar player. Other pieces will be located at Sugar Land Memorial Park, Oyster Creek Park, and Fire Station 4 in First Colony, another Texas locale.
“The City is currently developing a Public Art Plan that reflects the public’s strong desire for art that beautifies the city, has a place-making quality and supports places where people gather such as Sugar Land Town Square,” Sugar Land said in a press release.
Still, some were less-than-pleased by the public art.
When you just wanna mess around with taxpayers' money....... pic.twitter.com/OF7zS23yVm
— Marshall Parrott (@TeamParrott33) May 26, 2016
Y'all I saw the selfie statue in Sugar Land with my own eyes; it's as ridiculous as it sounds pic.twitter.com/2FF4XQKb7K
— Melinda Taylor (@mtayl19) May 27, 2016
What's my hometown like? Well they just erected a statue of 2 girls taking a selfie next to city hall sooooooo... pic.twitter.com/k4J2vQRZun
— Alexis Burrmann (@alexisburrmann) May 30, 2016
The statue is good, and drives public conversation. The general tone of people criticizing it is meaningless ludditism at best and outright misogyny at worst.
Selfies happen. Everyone takes them. This is good public art.
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