I Am Queen Mary

Quotes

La Vaughn Belle, artist

"I Am Queen Mary represents a bridge between the two countries.  It’s a hybrid of our bodies, nations and narratives. It extends the conversation beyond the centennial year and gets people to really question what is their relationship to this history.  Who we are as a society is largely about who we remember ourselves to be. This project is about challenging Denmark’s collective memory and changing it."

Jeannette Ehlers, artist

“What’s unique about this sculpture is not only its size and thematics but that it was not commissioned. It is we, two artists, who are pushing into the public space with our artwork. A space in which 98% of the statues in Denmark are representing white males. So like the Queens of the Fireburn took action and fought against the oppressive colonial system, we are confronting present day’s racism and Eurocentrism by claiming a space for our narratives.”

Henrik Holm, Senior Research Curator of the Royal Cast Collection, Staten Museum Kunst

"It takes a day like  Transfer Day, March 31st, when the Danish West Indies became the US Virgin Islands, and a statue like this to work to make forgetting less easy. It takes a monument like this to fight against the silence, neglect, repression, and hatred. It takes dedicated persons to work against the tide of the times - like those who broke their chains, like those who started the Fireburn and those who managed to get this monument in place to mark a path for a better future. Never before has a sculpture like this been erected on Danish soil. Now, Denmark is offered a sculpture that addresses the past. But it is also an artwork for the future."

Secretary General Tim Whyte ActionAid Denmark (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke in Denmark)

“I Am Queen Mary tells a hidden and incredibly important story about our past and our future. It tells the story of how the enslaved and colonial subjects resisted Danish colonialism. And that is an important story, because even today, human rights activists like Queen Mary are the ones who take tremendous risks to bring change that benefits people living under oppression and poverty throughout the globe. We know that from our work to support them."