One day before American Independence Day, a new mural was unveiled in the northern French city of Roubaix - and it is a silent outcry against hypocrisy and lost ideals. Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw depicts the Statue of Liberty with her face covered, hands pressed to her face - as if she can no longer bear to witness the world she once sought to inspire.
"Roubaix has a large migrant population, and many of them live in extremely difficult circumstances," says de Leeuw. "The values that the statue once stood for - freedom, hope, the right to be yourself - have been lost for many."
The work is more than an art project. It is a memorial. In a city where poverty, exclusion, and hopelessness are part of daily life, it addresses the gap between Western rhetoric and lived reality. That the image was presented on the eve of the American national holiday feels like a deliberate, quiet indictment. And like a bitter reminder that symbols mean nothing without justice.
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