A piece of street art in Roubaix, in the north of France near the Belgian border, has sparked controversy with a depiction of the United States’ icon, the Statue of Liberty, hanging her head in shame and covering her face as if embarrassed.
Entitled “The Statue of Liberty’s Silent Protest,” the work is by Dutch muralist Judith de Leeuw and was created in collaboration with the URBX Festival in Roubaix and street art group Collectif Renart.
The original Statue of Liberty, whose full title is “Liberty Enlightening the World”, was given to the US by France in an acknowledgement of the bonds between the two nations and to commemorate the centennial of the US Declaration of Independence. Since arriving on the east coast in June 1885, she has stood on Liberty Island in New York’s harbour – a symbol of freedom for immigrants to the US as they passed through Ellis Island, America’s largest and most active immigration station. More than 12 million immigrants were processed there between 1892 and 1924.
Comment on Trump’s policies
Now though, the new and supposedly permanent incarnation of “Lady Liberty” painted on a building is ruffling feathers. Its unveiling deliberately coincided with US Independence Day on 4 July as a critical commentary on the passing of President Donald Trump’s budget austerity plan dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Referring to the way the bill will see cuts to services that many Americans rely on, like Medicaid, as well as Trump’s treatment of migrants in the US, de Leeuw told contemporary art and culture outlet Hyperallergic that “the mural reflects her concern for the United States’s cruel immigration policies and a ‘fragile friendship’ between the country and the European Union.”
SIGNED. SEALED. DELIVERED. 🧾🇺🇸
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 4, 2025
President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is now LAW — and the Golden Age has never felt better. pic.twitter.com/t0q2DbZLz5
De Leeuw explained that the work was conceived after she watched a video of an immigrant “being torn from his home in the US, while his child stood frozen in the doorway.” The artist said the injustice of the incident “shattered” her and that “activism is not a choice, but a duty.”. She completed the piece in just six days, with Roubaix chosen as the site in honour of its large immigrant population.
Disgusting?
With clicks driven by US reporter, the work has received been viewed by tens of millions of people in just a week. Political supporters of Trump, such as Tennessee’s Rep. Tim Burchett said on X : “This disgusts me. If any country ought to be kissing our ass, it’s France.”
This disgusts me. If any country ought to be kissing our ass it’s France. My Uncle Roy fought and died and is buried there for their freedom. https://t.co/GrgciE2ob8
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) July 4, 2025
Other detractors have pointed out similarities between de Leeuw’s Liberty and the “Oh America”, an cover designed for industrial hiphop band Tackhead’s “Friendly as a hand grenade” album in 1989, by the United Kingdom’s Gee Vaucher. But Leeuw has denied any knowledge of the album cover and pointed out that there are not a million ways to draw the Statue of Liberty in a universally recognisable attitude of shame.
