The ceramic body, which features Taylor’s smile, was placed in downtown Oakland near Town Hall. The body was secured on a base with a record that read “Say her name: Breonna Taylor.”
But on Saturday, just two weeks after installation, the sculpture was found in pieces. Lumps from the back and sides of the body were missing, and parts of Taylor’s ceramic face were chipped.
The Oakland Police Department confirmed to CNN that they are investigating a vandalism act, although it did not identify any suspicion or any possible cause.
Leo Carson, the artist who created the body, told CNN that he believes it is “an aggressive racist attack aimed at suppressing the fight for Black freedom.”
He found out that the body was damaged in an Instagram message, he said, when a fan sent him an image of his broken pieces.
The act of vandalism undermined Carson’s motive behind the living, which he said he created to “raise and engage” activists “when he gathers in central Oakland to organize a protest against racism and injustice, he told CNN.
To prevent future damage to Taylor’s body, Carson plans to rebuild in bronze with donations from the GoFundMe page, which has already exceeded his $ 5,000 goal.
“The vandals wanted to intimidate and harass the Black Lives Matter movement, and this is proof that they are small and that we are thousands,” Carson said of achieving his fundraising goal. .
Any remaining money will be donated to Taylor’s family, Carson wrote on the fundraising platform.