Less than a week after it was installed, a bronze sculpture of Breonna Taylor has been vandlized. The art work went up in downtown Oakland’s Latham’s Square on Dec. 21 and was found destroyed on Saturday (Dec. 26), according to The Oaklandside, which was first to report the incident.
Leo Carson, the artist behind the piece, has since launched a Go Fund Me Page to raise $5,000 to cover the costs of rebuilding the statue. The campaign has so far brought in close to $7,000.
Carson, who was left “devastated and enraged” by the situation, plans to donate any leftover funds to Taylor’s family.
“This vandalism is an act of racist aggression, and it shows why sculpture and art matters,” Carson said. “I made this sculpture to support the Black Lives Matter movement and while I’m overcome with rage and sadness at their cowardly act, their vandalism will make her even more potent.”
On Monday, December 21st there was a newly erected #SayHerName bust of Breonna Taylor in Downtown Oakland.
Today, the day after Christmas, it’s now destroyed.
Credit for the art is listed as Leo Carson / leo_carson_art on Instagram pic.twitter.com/jwu2H5A65s
— Amir Aziz (@aziaticblack) December 26, 2020
The Oakland Police Department is investigating the incident, according to KQED.
In other Taylor-related news, The New York Times released a video recreation of the night in March that the 26-year-old emergency room technician was killed by Louisville police.
Officers were not wearing body cameras at the time of the fatal shooting.