Brand-new statue to be erected June 4
Hufsa Tahir
Staff Writer
@excalweb
The brand-new, highly-anticipated Goddess of Democracy statue now has a due date of June 4.
The statue, which had been removed last fall due to health and safety concerns, was originally constructed to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
In a January 25 meeting, the York University Student Centre (YUSC) Executive committee approved the location of the replacement statue. Originally slated to be situated beside the pillar opposite Treats Coffee Emporium in the Student Centre, it is now to be placed in the North Vestibule, the back entrance near Treats.
YUSC executive director Scott Jarvis says nothing has yet been finalized about the design of the statue. That decision will be made by the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.
“We approve the location, they approve the blueprints.”
“We do have some specifications,” he adds. “We want the statue to fit into the north corner.” The location had been changed due to upcoming renovations to the Student Centre.
Bruce Parsons, fine arts professor at York, who has been overseeing the project with Cheuk Kwan from the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, says that the Association has decided on the statue’s design and can now focus on raising funds for it.
They will be taking a visit to the bronze factory where they will create a replica of the statue as it appeared in Tiananmen Square. “It will be a bronze color, not white, as in the original Chinese plaster sculpture, or gold as it appeared at York previously,” he says.
They aim to have the statue installed for the Tiananmen Square anniversary June 4, 2012.
