Singer Rihanna recently shared a photo of herself and a giant headless figure modeled after her on her Instagram profile. In the photo, both she and the headless figure are posing wearing sunglasses, but her sunglasses are already on her face, while the headless figure's sunglasses are suspended in mid-air because their face is artistically placed on their chest.

In fact, this headless figure is an exhibit at the 9th Berlin Biennale and has been on display for nearly two months. Before that, it only had some repercussions in the design and art circles. It wasn't until last week, when Rihanna herself visited and posted a photo online, that the exhibit really gained global attention.

“We just hope to find someone with global recognition as the model for the sculpture in this exhibition,” Juan Sebastián, the artist who made this headless figure Regarding this work, Peláez said, "Because we are making headless portraits. When the person's head is removed and their face is placed on the chest, many times you will not be able to recognize who the model is, but Rihanna's figure and tattoos are already very recognizable." ”

High recognition is only one of the reasons why Peláez chose Rihanna as a model. But what Peláez values ​​more is the connection between Rihanna’s birthplace, Barbado, the only black developed country, and the idea the headless figure wants to convey.

The creation of the Headless Head was inspired by a painting depicting the Ewaipanoma people of South America created by the German Walter Raleigh during his expedition to the American continent in 1596. The "New World Man" in this painting also has no head, and his face is on his neck. Of course, the physical structure of the people on the American continent was no different from that of Europeans. It was just that the people at that time "believed" that the newly discovered human races were backward and ignorant beasts, so they had no thinking and no need for heads.

“What I want to do is restore famous people born in South America or the Caribbean to what they would have been like 500 years ago. I am interested in how political propaganda and advertising can create an identity. ”Peláez believes that around the 14th century, Europeans deliberately shaped the aborigines of the New World into "beasts" in order to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy and to pave the way for subsequent plunder and "development" in the New World.

Peláez has also put this kind of proposition in his past works. Before Rihanna, celebrities such as Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez, and Shakira have all turned into headless "beasts" in his hands.

However, he did not have the qualifications and capital to invite these celebrities to participate in the creative process. All of his creations rely on Google Image Search. According to him, he has selected another Google image of Rihanna and the new work will be publicly displayed soon.