Protesters in Richmond, Va., where there have been calls to remove racist statues near the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, recently gathered at “Rumors of War,” the contemporary sculpture by Kehinde Wiley, to meditate and pay their respects to victims of police brutality.
However, throughout peaceful and sometimes violent protests, Wiley’s bronze rider — installed in December on the front lawn of the museum — has stood amid weeks of demonstrations and vandalizations and as the museum prepares for reopening on July 4.
As monuments come down, Wiley’s 27-foot statue commemorates victims of state violence, standing as a rebuke to Confederate memorials just blocks away.