Jesse Pallotta‘s A Love Letter to Marsha is the first statue of a trans person in New York City. After months of design and planning, a team of trans activists erected the statue in Christopher Park in August 2021 without permitting as a work of guerilla art. The bronze bust quickly became so beloved, the NYC Parks Service issued it a permit.
Christopher Park is across the street from the Stonewall Inn, the site of the Stonewall Riots, where queer and trans people like Marsha P Johnson rose up against police persecution.
The statue was also inspired by (and against) George Segal’s Gay Liberation Monument in Christopher Park. Instead of respecting the community’s wishes for a sculpture by and for queer/trans artists representing the real history of Stonewall, the monument features two white statues covered in plaster of anonymous parkgoers. The statues remain in the park to this day despite the protests of the local community.
A bronze plaque on the bust’s pillar includes a quote from Stonewall participant Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt: “History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
Eli helped design, organize, and photograph the statue, which now resides at the New York City Center.
