Gay Lawn Jockey
I have seen these statues in peoples yards over the years and have always liked them. I am sure that was because of their electric / illumination potential as opposed to their questionable historical background. I was always told [assumed?] the statue was a racist leftover of the deep south. There are now several sources [1] [2] online portraying the statue's history as a noble one tied to the underground railroad. However, I suspect those alternate histories are being spread by the lawn jockey industry. [more info]
A simple survey of their online catalogs still shows some very questionable material.
So several years ago i put out the word that I wanted one for a project someday. I thought I had a very unique idea for taking this racist symbol and turning it into something more entertaining / less offending. Well.... apparently I was not the first to stumble on to the idea as i spotted this rendition this weekend while camping.
A very nice job. My idea is still a little better. I want to place the statue at the edge of a pond and swap the lantern for a motorized disco ball. But without a lawn [ or my own gay bar..] I am not sure what i would quite do with it.
Racist symbol Lawn Jockey
+ chaps + disco ball
= gay icon Lawn Jacques.
Not too bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment