Statue of Justice at the STF was spray painted with lipstick – 01/25/2023 – Power

The sculpture “A Justiça”, which is in front of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), was painted with lipstick, according to the court. It will be washed with water and neutral detergent this Wednesday (25) for “one last cleaning”.

During the invasion and destruction of the headquarters of the Three Powers, on January 8, vandals climbed onto the work and wrote the phrase “Perdeu, mané”. The lipstick pigment seeped into the granite, which made cleaning difficult.

STF restorers carried out a series of tests to discover which material could be used to clean the stain without damaging the work. This Tuesday (24), the court informed that the phrase had been removed with the help of biological solvents.

“[Usaram] normal paste lipstick. The pigment penetrated the granite. After several tests so as not to damage the work, we use biological solvents. The final cleaning will be done with neutral detergent and water jet”, said the STF in a note.

Sculpted in granite, “A Justiça” is one of the main works of Alfredo Ceschiatti, from Minas Gerais. Valued between R$ 2 million and R$ 3 million, the statue is about three meters high and one and a half meters wide.

Photos taken by Sheet on January 8, they show the possible graffiti artist. The report identified a resident of the interior of São Paulo who would be the woman in the photos and spoke with her by phone.

She showed surprise when asked on Friday (20) about the vandalism of the statue, and said: “Did I vandalize the statue?”. From that moment on, she was silent and stopped answering questions.

In one of the images, the woman is on top of the sculpture with one of her hands touching the graffiti phrase: “Perdeu, mané”. Then, still on top of the work, she shows her hands dirty with the pigment and smiles.

Afterwards, she sits on the statue and takes the cell phone from the hands of a man, who is standing. In the sequence, the woman descends from the sculpture and hugs the man, who is also smiling.

When the woman is on top of the statue, the man appears in the images standing with his cell phone pointed at the scene. You can also see that there are two ink strokes on the woman’s face.

The graffitied phrase on the sculpture is a reference to Minister Luís Roberto Barroso’s (STF) response to harassment by a supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). “You lost, mané. Don’t bother!”, said the minister to the man who approached him on the street, in New York (USA), in November.

The 1961 sculpture depicts the goddess of Justice in Greek mythology. The goddess is seated, blindfolded, with a sword in her lap. Unlike other representations, Ceschiatti’s “A Justiça” does not carry a scale.