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The first statue of a trans person in an NYC park, and the first to depict a participant in the historic Stonewall riots, has been erected in Christopher Park.
The bust of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist Marsha P. Johnson went up on Tuesday morning in time to celebrate the transgender movement and what would be Johnson’s 76th birthday.
Created by sculptor Jesse Pallotta, the bust features a slightly smiling Johnson—like a modern Mona Lisa—in her tiara and pearls. Activists adorned her hair with beautiful flowers when they were done installing the bust.
On the plinth, a plaque quotes Johnson: "History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities."
Then it describes her as a "lover of poetry, flowers, space and the color purple."
"At a time when we are taking down statues, I think it is just as important to collectively consider what is put up in public spaces, the process that is used to erect statues and reimagine the function of monumental work," Pallotta says.
Johnson was an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and HIV/AIDS treatment. During her life, she was a leader of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, an activist with ACT UP and a co-founder of S.T.A.R. with Sylvia Rivera. She also established a shelter in the city for young LGBTQ+ individuals who were rejected by their families.
The new statue of Johnson sits feet from George Segal’s Gay Liberation monument featuring four white-painted women and men, and that's on purpose.
"The Segal statue is a whitewashed representation of normative gay couples and many members of the LGBTQ community do not fit into that category," Pallotta says. "Marsha represents all of the others—trans people, black and brown queers, sex workers, drag queens, houseless folks, and many more who have been historically left out of the modern LGBT movement. For many people, seeing a bust of Marsha is the first time they are seeing a representational sculpture of someone they feel historically connected to."
Interestingly, there are only seven other statues of historical women (out of 800) in NYC Parks right now. In fact, the very first tribute to real women in Central Park was only just installed last year.
And while the Mayor's office announced plans in 2019 for a statue of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera on the corner of Seventh and Greenwich Avenues, the pandemic hit and the plans were indefinitely stalled and an artist was never chosen.
No single activist or community group was behind the Johnson bust's installation at Christopher Park—it was a group of local trans individuals who came together to see it done.
"We cannot stay idle and wait for the city to build statues for us," sculpture coordinator Eli Erlick added. "We must create representation by and for our own communities."
Johnson is also being honored by New York State, which has dedicated East River State Park in Williamsburg in her memory. It will undergo new improvements, including a new park house and education center, resurfacing deteriorating concrete, new park furniture and, coolest of all, a public art installation honoring her life with interpretive materials on Johnson’s life as well as information on the larger LGBTQ+ movement.
