Pic: Abraham Lincoln's Wax Statue Melts In Washington DC Heat

This year the summer months are breaking heat records around the world. Many parts of the USA are experiencing heatwave with temperatures soaring well above the average. As a result of such high temperatures, a six-foot-tall wax statue of former US President Abraham Lincoln melted over the weekend. The statue, which is a replica of the Lincoln Memorial, partially dissolved as the temperature soared to 37 degrees Celsius on Saturday. The statue’s head and right foot melted, and its legs separated from its torso.

The statue was made by artist Sandy Williams IV as part of her 40 ACRES Archive: The Wax Monument Series. The artist had intended the statue to melt to symbolise that nothing is permanent or “untouchable”. Interestingly, many are also interpreting the melting statue as a warning against climate change.

An X user, Kirk A Bado, shared a photo of the melted statue and wrote, “Maybe a wax Lincoln sculpture wasn’t the best idea during DC’s first week of summer heat.” This post has received 14 million views since it was shared on June 24.

An X user commented on this photo, “No, it’s a perfect metaphor. America is so fixated on worshipping the past, that they’re completely ignoring all of the urgent crises of the present.”

Someone interpreted this photo as, “Oh I thought it was supposed to be every dad watching football on Sunday afternoon.”

Another person wrote, “I think the strangest manifestation of the Media Literacy Crisis is the widespread inability to recognize intentionality in art. Like, it should be obvious that the artist knew this would happen and made this explicitly FOR THIS VISUAL TO OCCUR!”

An X user wrote, “Pretty decent symbol of America at only 1.2°C of global heating”

Sandy Williams IV explained the intent behind the melting wax statues to East City Art back in February and said, “I am interested in visualizing change and building monuments able to keep a living record of activity. By melting these wax versions of famous monuments, people are given agency over these forms that are normally untouchable.”

The artist had previously made statues of public figures such as Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart and Stonewall Jackson, and President Thomas Jefferson. Many of these wax statues include candle wicks that allow the public to engage with the sculptures by burning them.