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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent

‘Let it rot’: artist says Stroud’s ‘racist’ blackboy clock should be destroyed

A statue of an old-fashioned depiction of a young black boy holding a spear and wearing a leafy skirt
The blackboy clock statue in Stroud, which inspired Guthrie’s new work, Empty Alcove / Rotting Figure. Photograph: Chris Moos/Alamy

The Stroud-raised artist Dan Guthrie had just come out of a meeting about what to do with the “racist” blackboy clock that has been present in his home town for 240 years, when he had a thought. Why not just destroy it?

The clock that sits on the side of a former school has been at the centre of a culture war in Stroud since 2021, when Guthrie asked the local council why the figure, who has large red lips and is wearing a golden leaf skirt, was still present in the town.

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