Pavia Justinian sees joy when she looks at Zafira, a colorful sculpture she created, which is balanced on one foot while frozen in dance. Others, however, saw the female genitalia. Now, the statue is being relocated from its perch in downtown Fruita.
The decision by the Fruita Arts & Culture Board means Zafira was moved Friday to an undetermined location, wrapping up days of public outcry from some in the community who found the nude representation of the dancer to be out of step with public art. Justinian said the pushback on the piece — entered in the city’s HeART of Fruita sculpture exhibition— came as a surprise.
“I certainly wasn't expecting it to get as big as it has, the controversy. There's always a couple of people that may have a comment about things, and I've had comments here or there about my work,” Justinian said. “I mean, I think that's part of the role of public art is to start conversations, and so plenty of people are going to have something to say about it, but I didn't expect it to be a super controversial thing, and she is supposed to represent joy. That's really why I built her.”
Much of that conversation, for better or worse, played out online via social media and community message boards, with opponents noting that the anatomical element of the statue in question would be at eye level for children and supporters noting that Michelangelo’s David is universally considered to be a masterpiece. Some teased that the first syllable of the city’s name should be replaced with the word ‘prude’ in light of the discussion.
The decision was ultimately made by the volunteer arts board after consulting with Justinian. The board also considered removing the statue or modifying it. Before that, the matter did rise to the level of the Fruita City Council, drawing public comments as well as discussion over how the statue was selected.
Zafira is actually the second statue Justinian has displayed as a part of the sculpture series. During a city council meeting last week, Council Member James Williams noted that the second statue “hasn’t caused any issue.”
“I wonder why? It’s a naked woman as well, but it’s not grotesquely a naked woman. So, maybe there’s an issue there that people can go, ‘Hey, maybe not everybody’s completely prude.’ There’s a naked woman right there and nobody’s having a problem with that,” Williams said.
That sculpture, Molly, depicts a woman in binary and was built using exhaust pipes, Justinian said, creating a gap space down the middle of the body of the woman depicted.
“I thought that the negative space was cool and the idea of playing with a split personality. So she has the two sides with the two different colors. We have cool colors on one side and warm colors on the other,” Justinian said.
Justinian’s art, including Zafira, has been displayed elsewhere in Colorado. In fact, Justinian said Zafira was pulled from a display in Parker early for similar reasons. Justinian said Zafira’s status as a statue scofflaw won’t impact future artistic decisions. In most cases, Justinian said, the statue is received with the joy intended.
“She's actually been really embraced in most of the communities where I've put her in, and every once in a while, it doesn't go that way. But yeah, I think what happened in Parker was a lot less of a controversy than what's happened here, I guess, or at least, if it was, I wasn't really privy to it because I'm not from Parker,” Justinian said. “I'm from the Grand Valley and I've been living in Fruita for 13 years, so I'm privy to a lot more of the shop talk about it.”
