A lifelike sculpture of a man sleepwalking in his underwear has caused a stir at Wellesley College, and some students at the women’s college have signed a petition asking that the artwork be removed from a public space, The Boston Globe reported.
The statue, called “Sleepwalker,” is part of an exhibit featuring the sculptor Tony Matelli at the college’s Davis Museum. The Globe said the sculpture had been installed in a high-traffic area of the campus.
A Wellesley student started a petition asking college leaders to have the piece removed or placed inside the museum. The petition states that the piece has become “a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community.”
Lisa Fischman, the museum’s director, wrote about the sculpture in a post on the museum’s website. She said that she loved “the idea of art escaping the museum and muddling the line between what we expect to be inside (art) and what we expect to be outside (life),” and she asserted that reactions to the sculpture had been “varied.”
Ms. Fischman also replied directly to the petition, echoing much of what she had written on the museum’s website. “Art provokes dialogue, and discourse is the core of education,” she said. “In that spirit, I am enormously glad to have your response.”
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