State Street mulls siblings for Fearless Girl as it removes its brand from NYC statue
State Street Global Advisors, the investment management firm behind the Cannes Lion-winning Fearless Girl, has hinted at plans to commission siblings for the original bronze statue for financial hubs outside New York City.
Fearless Girl moves to Broad and Wall / Sculpture by Kristen Visbal
Lori Heinel, deputy global chief investment officer at the firm, told The Drum the company has “talked about whether to have replicas ... of Fearless Girl” as it looks to expand its campaign, and is placing more women onto company boards globally.
“We've certainly been asked by many outside the US for their own Fearless Girl, and that's certainly a conversation we continue to have,” she said.
However, she added that State Street is focused on celebrating the original’s new, permanent location for now.
Today (10 December) State Street moved the bronze statue, originally at Bowling Green, to face the pedestrianized New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the corner of Wall and Broad Streets. The company worked with the City of New York and the NYSE to broker the statue's first permanent site; originally, it was only meant to be in situ for one week.
The move means the sculpture will no longer face the Arturo Di Modica’s Charging Bull – a stance the Italian artist vocally criticized – and will help alleviate traffic issues caused by heavy tourist footfall at the previous Lower Manhattan spot.
Ta-dah! pic.twitter.com/EvF53t6Bnb
— Katie Deighton (@DollyDeighton) December 10, 2018
Additionally, Kristen Visbal’s artwork is no longer accompanied by the plaque connecting her with State Street at the new location. A bronze sign previously declared: ‘Know the power of women in leadership/SHE makes a difference,’ followed by the State Street logo.
The copy was written by McCann New York creative Tali Gumbiner, who admitted she “never spent more time writing anything" in her life.
Heinel explained the decision not to move the plaque is symbolic of State Street gifting the conversation sparked by Fearless Girl to the wider world.
“The world moved the conversation [surrounding female leadership] away from just us a long time ago ... it is way beyond State Street at this juncture,” she said.
“We wanted her to really symbolize the potential for all women everywhere and not be associated with just State Street. Clearly, we're very proud of the fact that we commissioned her and were the first to install her, but this is really about the girl now.”