When it comes to damaging
public sculpture in the name of religion, politics or plain bad temper, heads
get a real beating. A stroll through any antiquities museum will reveal broken
noses, scratched-out eyes and, when things get really out of hand, full
decapitation. We had one of our
own beheaded in 1987 when a group called Upokokohua took off with Sir George Grey’s head which up to that time had been located on top of his statue in
Auckland’s Albert Park. A new head was made by sculptor Roderick Burgess (he
also did the controversial Sir Keith Park effort in London which briefly appeared on the Trafalgar Square Fourth plinth).
All this brings us to
another re-headed political statue. This time it's one of Margaret Thatcher currently
on offer to her hometown Grantham. When on display in London in 2002 Thatcher’s
head was removed from her marble body by an outraged visitor using one of the
protective metal stanchions for the job (another reason to back OTN’s campaign
to remove protective barriers around sculptures). The repaired sculpture is now
on offer to Grantham but there's not a lot of support for the idea with one
councilor opining that it could be ‘asking for trouble’. There are two other sculptures of the
ex-Prime Minister on view, one in Westminster (standing) and the other in the
United States (sitting).
Images: Top Baroness Thatcher before and after. Bottom same with Sir George Grey
