Laura Lian , the artist responsible for the John Lennon at Hard Rock Café , wants the artwork to tour Lennon's hometown area in honor of what would have been the artist's 80th birthday, born on October 9, 1940.
The sculptor wants the artwork to remain in Liverpool until September 21st, International Day of Peace. The Lennon statue even features a large peace symbol with the word "Imagine" positioned next to the icon's figure. But Laura's plans don't end there; the artist also wants the statue to visit all the districts of Merseyside county in addition to Liverpool over the next two years, and return to its hometown in time for the 40th anniversary of the artist's death.
“With all the world’s problems about statues… the pandemic and the conflicts, it’s so right that Lennon can go back to where he belongs,” Lian told The Guardian . “For my generation growing up between the protests against the Vietnam War and the threat of nuclear war, Lennon was an inspiration in the way he inspired us to dream of peace.”
“I always intended for the statue to have a permanent home in Merseyside and on a stage that made it look like Lennon’s statue stood in the fields of the Strawberry Field area in Liverpool. The project didn’t work out, but the Mayor of Merseyside, Steve Rotherham , suggested that [the statue] should go to the Sefton district, and I thought it was a great idea. Each year a district of Merseyside was named the district of culture, and this year it’s Sefton’s turn.”
Check out the John Lennon statue by Laura Lian below.
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