Ablut Surival of The Fattest

The 3.5 meter high sculpture depicts a colossally overweight Justitia (the goddess of justice) holding the weights of justice in her right hand while she is carried on the shoulders of a starving African man.

Justitia says with closed eyes: “I am sitting on the back of a man. He's blessing under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except stepping down from his back ”. The pronunciation is written on the pedestal of the sculpture.

Galschiøt got help from the sculptor Lars Calmar to make the large female sculpture.

The sculpture depicts an unbalanced distribution of the world's resources, where rich people live comfortably and oppress the poor through a practical and unfair system of global trade. A discriminatory trade policy is enforced, to keep the poorest countries out of competition.

It is one of Galschiøt's most famous sculptures and 2 models of the large sculpture and many smaller versions have been made.

Exhibitions

Survival of the Fattest was presented at Copenhagen City Hall Square in 2002 together with International Cooperation on Global Trade Policy.

It was a part of Galschiøt's art project, “7 meters”, which was launched at the 15th UN Climate Conference (COP15) in December 2009 in Copenhagen. The sculpture was placed in the harbor on Langelinie next to the internationally known landmark, The Little Mermaid. The location secured the statue and its message international attention.

The sculpture is globally known and e.g. almost all Brazilians know it as it has been shared more than 500,000 times on Facebook mainly in Brazil. It has become a symbol of corruption and double standards.

For Ringkøbing Art-unions's 40th anniversary, the citizens raised money to buy the sculpture, which is now permanently erected at Ringkøbing harbor.

The sculpture can be seen at the gallery galschiøt in Odense -Denmark and can also be seen on display in Ringkøbing -Denmark

Sofus Markus, psykoterapeut i Odense C