A sculpture depicting whistleblowers Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden stood outside Parliament in London over the weekend. The protest coin (Something to say ?), by Italian artist Davide Dormino, is part of the campaign #DontExtraditeAssange calling for the release of Assange from Belmarsh prison in London. Assange could be extradited to the United States and face prosecution for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents.
An empty chair stood next to the three effigies in Parliament Square, inviting members of the public to stand alongside the three controversial figures. “As an artist, I feel it is my duty to defend freedom of expression and the right to know. That’s why I created an empty chair that allows us to stand taller and elevate. It changes our perspective and allows us to look at what is not shown to us and what is hidden,” Dormino explains in a statement.
An empty chair invites passers-by to take part in the protest works
Courtesy of the artist
He says The arts journal that the work, conceived by the American writer Charles Glass, will now be presented in Sweden and Norway. The sculptures were first unveiled in Berlin in 2015 and have since been seen in Paris, Geneva, Leipzig and Sydney. Manning’s sculpture – who is a trans woman – depicts her pre-transition likeness; Manning underwent gender affirmation surgery in 2018. The work cost around €100,000, which was raised through a crowdfunding campaign and “two [anonymous] enlightened people,” says Dormino.
#DontExtraditeAssange protesters outside parliament
Courtesy of Davide Dormino
Manning, a former US soldier, was released from prison in May 2017 after being convicted of violating the Espionage Act for leaking government documents to Wikileaks in 2013. His aim was to shed light on the ramifications of American foreign policy, but she has been described as one of “America’s most polarizing figures”.
Meanwhile, in 2013, according to the non-profit National Whistleblower Center, Snowden – a former intelligence contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA) – revealed the existence of collection surveillance programs of previously highly classified intelligence managed by the National Security Agency in the United States and its equivalent in the United Kingdom, GCHQ.
