Ahead of the inauguration of the US president-elect Joe Biden this week, the Museum of London has acquired a large balloon depicting an unflattering caricature of Donald Trump as a giant baby.
It has subsequently become a reoccurring emblem of dissent at anti-Trump protests around the US.
The London museum first expressed interest in acquiring the balloon two years ago, and says it will conserve the object as part of its collection of protest ephemera, potentially displaying it in the museum’s future new home in West Smithfield in “the coming years,” according to an emailed statement.
“A feeling still relevant today as we live through these exceptionally challenging times—that ultimately shows Londoners banding together in the face of extreme adversity.”.
The team behind the so-called Trump Baby tells Artnet News that it donated the giant balloon to the museum, but it has kept a half-size version to continue to fly at other protests.
It hopes that the balloon reminds people in future of the global politics of resistance that surrounded Trump’s term in office.
It also hopes to prompt museum visitors “to examine how they can continue the fight against the politics of hate.”. »
