Study for LOVEwork

In 2019, as part of the 50^th anniversary celebration of the “Virginia is for Lovers” tourism campaign, communities across the Commonwealth are encouraged to create sculptures using the word “LOVE” as part of the LOVEworks tourism project. Each sculpture is unique and references things that are special to the local community and also inviting to tourists. At the same time, the current governor and attorney general are embroiled in scandals attempting to justify their use of blackface and Klan garb, while the lieutenant governor has been accused of multiple sexual assaults. In all instances, whether intentionally, or not, their actions work to maintain established power structures along racial and gender lines. It is within this backdrop that the work was created.

Here the artist envisions potential symbols to reflect Virginia’s leaders working in Capitol Square today, based on their pictures, words, and deeds by creating a new LOVEwork. The “L” is shaped in its Greek form, lambda, and reveals a menacing pair of eyes, looking toward the “O,” a representation of an object of male desire. The “V” appears to be a blue-eyed person in blackface, while the “E,” is taken from the seal of Virginia. All that remains is a small part of the Roman Goddess, Virtus, along with the words, Sic Semper Tyrannis.