South Bronx Bronzes Conclusion

The controversy of the South Bronx Bronzes was led by a local woman Alcina Salgado and two other people from outside the neighborhood; Arthur Symes and Claudette LaMelle.  They claimed that the images were politically incorrect and that they portrayed the area in negatively fashion.  Could the artist John Ahearn have found more positive imagery than those he chose, that might lift up the area instead of bringing it down? 

At the head of the controversy are three statues: Daleesha the street child, Raymond and his pit bull who is a known drug dealer, and Corey who is a hustler. These are every day images of people who inhabit the area.  It is an area where drugs, poverty and crime are common place.  The main thread here is that the artist choose to depict the grittier side of the South Bronx.

While the appropriateness was being questioned so was the artists own race, should a man who is white no matter how long he lived in the area be portraying other ethnicities.  John Ahearn was only doing what he does best and that is portraying life of the streets, even if it is the life most people do not want to see.  The artist ended up giving in to the demands that the art be removed and moved his statues to areas where they were less known and out of the way of the controversy.   Pedestals that are that remain outside the police station, the location where these bronze statues once stood. 

“There will be nostalgia,” Mr. Ahearn said. “There will be a day when those bronzes will be back at the police station. Things that once seemed antisocial in the past may grow into a particular symbol for the Bronx. I think those bronzes will be part of that.”

*The South Bronx Bronzes are currently on display at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York City.