Maeve Higgins: Portraits of courage in Ireland and America
Kehinde Wiley's 'Rumors of War' was initially unveiled in Times Square, New York City, before being moved to its permanent home in Richmond, Virginia. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
This is a story about two statues. When I hear the word ‘misneach’, I can only picture a horse thrusting forward to battle, a teenage girl facing into the unknown with her gaze steady, an entire community betting on itself to smash old constructs and start over, stronger.
This image comes to me because that’s what I saw the day I learned that word. is the title of the sculpture I just described, a teenage girl in a tracksuit and runners riding a magnificently muscled horse, by the artist John Byrne.
