Although Italian women are known for their beauty, style and glamour, a curvy mermaid statue was slammed for emphasizing the private features. The statue is located in a fishing village in Puglia and this mermaid isn’t a catch in the eyes of some locals who shamed the sculpture as “too provocative.”
The imaginary sea creature was brought to life by students at the Luigi Rosso art school in Monopoli and it was later placed in a square to honor scientist Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Despite the statue not being officially inaugurated yet, photos of the installation leaked online and people have a mouthful to say about the lady parts.
Tiziana Schiavarelli, a 62-year-old actress, expressed her shocked reaction online: “Rightly expressed some perplexity about this monument. It looks like a mermaid with two silicone breasts and, above all, a huge arse never seen before on a mermaid. At least not any I know.”
Schiavarelli isn’t critical of the art piece but she was more so surprised at first glance by the display. She feels the sculpture may be a hit with tourists who can let their imaginations run wild with the captivating sea creature revealing her hidden gems.
People had strong negative reactions to the statue and the school’s headteacher Adolfo Marciano stepped in to defend the piece. Her belief is that it’s a “tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy.”
The mayor had instructed the students to create statues to be displayed around the town and one of them had to exemplify the sea theme.
Marciano said: “The students got together and came up with the idea of a mermaid. The council was shown the scale model and said it was good, and then decided the completed sculpture would be placed in the square.
“You see adverts on television with models who are very thin, but the mermaid is like a tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy, especially in our country. It would have been very bad if we had represented a woman who was extremely skinny.”
Even though the makers and authorities justify the creation, a mermaid that unapologetically owns her curves isn’t always a hit with the crowd.
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/28/italy-mermaid-statue-too-sexual/