Artist Rigo 23’s controversial 12-foot-high statue of Leonard Peltier has landed on the San Francisco Art Institute’s rooftop terrace where it is gazing across the bay to Alcatraz, a pivotal place for the American Indian Movement (AIM) and Indians of All Tribes.
Peltier is a Native activist incarcerated since 1977, and Rigo 23’s statue is based on a small hand painted self-portrait that Peltier created in prison.
The statue and a corresponding exhibition are available for the public to see online via sfai.edu running through April 4, 2021.