A new wooden statue of first lady Melania Trump is drawing mixed reactions in her Slovenian hometown of Sevnica.
The statue, modeled off of the former model, features the first lady emerging from a large tree stump, wearing the same blue dress from President Trump’s inauguration, and waving. The rustic sculpture is angular, with little attention given to her facial features.
U.S. artist Brad Downey commissioned the statue from local chainsaw sculptor Ales “Maxi” Zupevc. The sculpture is part of a new documentary Downey is producing called Melania.
“The sculpture of the president’s wife is made by a local pipe layer and amateur chainsaw sculptor named Maxi,” Downey wrote in a Friday Instagram post. “Both Maxi and Melania were born on the same year in the same hospital, but their lives have taken drastically different directions.”
In the documentary, Zupevc said, “I don’t know her personally, but she’s my age. We were both born in April. All the more reason to make the statue. Being born the same year, the same month. She might come and see the thing. She might like it.”
Downey told CNN he was inspired to commission the piece because of the “anti-immigration narrative” coming from the Trump administration and to highlight the “blatant contradiction” for Trump to be married to an immigrant whose first language is not English.
People who live in Sevnica have some thoughts of their own.
“If the monument was meant to be a parody, then the artist has been successful,” one person said, with others comparing the design to “Smurfette.”
One resident said that statue could be viewed symbolically. “You know what makes her resemble Melania? Look at how high she climbed to the top, just like Melania, who rose to the top of America,” the person said.
