Artist’s Monument to Beheaded Women at University of Houston

The monumental sculpture “Witness” (2023) by artist Shahzia Sikander was decapitated in the early hours of Monday, July 8, on the campus of the University of Houston.

The 18-foot-tall sculpture, depicting a female figure in a hoop skirt and jabot, with hair braided into ram horns and vine-like appendages, was installed for a temporary exhibition at the university earlier this year. In February, anti-abortion groups denounced the Pakistani-American artist’s work as a “satanic idol of abortion” and threatened to protest the exhibition, leading the university to cancel Sikander’s lecture on campus for the opening reception.

“Witness” was vandalized when Hurricane Beryl made landfall along the Texas coast, causing power outages and damage to the campus and city, said Shawn Lindsey, associate vice president for media relations at the University of Houston.

“The damage is believed to be intentional. The University of Houston Police Department is currently investigating the matter,” Lindsey said. Hyperallergic“Restorers have also been called in to advise on the necessary repairs. We have contacted the artist to repair the work as quickly as possible.”

The head of the sculpture is in the possession of the university, a spokesperson confirmed.

Sikander has not yet responded to HyperallergicRequest for comment from.

“Witness” is one of three works included in Sikander’s 2023 project Havah… breathe, air, life, co-commissioned by the Public Art University of Houston System and the Madison Square Park Conservancy, and originally exhibited in Manhattan’s Flatiron District park.

Referring to the reversal of Roe v. Wadeand the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sikander said in her statement about the project that she sought to capture the “spirit and courage” of women fighting to maintain rights over their bodies. She added that the works “demand a reimagining of the feminine not only as Lady Justice with her scale, but of the woman as an active agent, thinker, participant, and witness to the patriarchal history of art and law.”

“We expected that on a university campus, a center of learning, there would be a significant dialogue around ‘Witness’ and the artist’s practice. We did not anticipate this extreme and violent act,” said Brooke Kamin Rapaport, the Conservatory’s artistic director and chief curator. Hyperallergic.

Earlier this month, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary on display in an Austrian cathedral was also decapitated by an unknown vandal following protests from conservative religious groups who considered the work “blasphemous.”