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Proposal for the statue of Billy Herrington for the city of Odesa
2025
Bronze
A small bronze sculpture portrays American gay porn actor Billy Herrington, who later in his life became known worldwide as a meme. Billy himself appreciated such status and frequently visited meme-related conventions and expos.
In July 2022, amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a petition to the President of Ukraine regarding the replacement of the Monument to Empress Catherine the Great with a monument to Billy Herrington received more than 25,000 votes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the petition and asked the Odesa City Council to discuss the demolition of the monument. Subsequently, the statue of Catherine and several other monuments tied to imperial and Soviet legacies were taken down.
The original petition presented itself as a humorous call to combat imperial and colonial symbols in Ukrainian public spaces. At the same time, it also relied on a joke that framed Herrington’s image through a homophobic lens. The original concept drew from a popular meme image, reducing Herrington to a caricature.
On the contrary, this sculpture responds by taking the proposal seriously and making a work that idealizes Herrington. It arose as a counteraction to acts of homophobia and the appropriation of anti-colonial rhetoric.
Installation shots from Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam:
Shown at:
Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine