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Statue on Slovenia’s Melania tourist trail divides opinion
SEVNICA, Slovenia, July 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – After Melania cake, Melania
honey, and even Melania slippers, the Slovenian hometown of the US first lady
will now boast a statue of its most famous daughter — albeit one that has
faced decidedly mixed reviews.
The life-size statue on the outskirts of Sevnica was inaugurated on Friday
and is the brainchild of 39-year-old American conceptual artist Brad Downey,
who says it’s the first monument anywhere dedicated to the wife of US
President Donald Trump.
The sculpture was carved into a tree using a chainsaw and depicts Melania
in a blue dress raising her left hand in a waving gesture, emulating a pose
she struck at her husband’s 2017 inauguration.
Its somewhat naive style has led some critics on social media to brand it
a “scarecrow”.
“I can understand why people might think that this falls short as a
description of her physical appearance,” Downey told AFP, but insisted that
he found the end result “absolutely beautiful”.
Since Donald Trump took office in 2017, sleepy Sevnica has become a magnet
for tourists and journalists searching for insights into the American first
lady’s past.
Entrepreneurial locals have been cashing in on the influx, offering a
bewildering array of Melania-branded food and merchandise as well as a tour
of the area taking in the key sites of her early years.
Downey came up with the statue as part of a project aimed at exploring the
first lady’s Slovenian roots and commissioned local artisan Ales Zupevc —
also known as “Maxi” — to actually carve the sculpture.
Downey told AFP he was struck by the fact that Maxi was born in the same
year and in the same hospital as Melania herself.
He said conversations with Maxi had enabled him to see Melania’s ancestral
region through local eyes.
“You see this river that she would have seen as a child, you see the
mountains,” he said.
However, not everyone has been moved to wax lyrical about the artwork.
Nika, a local 24-year-old architecture student, told AFP: “If the monument
was meant to be a parody, then the artist has been succesful.
“We in Sevnica can only laugh and, at the same time, hold our heads in our
hands over their (the Trumps’) catastrophic reputation,” she added.
Katarina, a 66-year-old resident of nearby Rozno, said that she thought the
monument was a “good idea”.
“Melania is a Slovenian hero, she made it to the top in the US,” she said.
BSS/AFP/AU/07:45 hrs