The "Nightmare Elk" was a metal sculpture of an elk, temporarily installed in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Description

The statue which became known as the "nightmare elk" was crafted in metal by an unknown artist. Andrew D. Jankowski and Safiyah Maurice of ''Oregon ArtsWatch'' said the sculpture had "a

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

death metal aesthetic".

History

The makeshift sculpture was erected in

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found. ...

by demonstrators in July 2020, during the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

. The statue replaced the ''

Thompson Elk Fountain ''Thompson Elk Fountain'', also known as the David P. Thompson Fountain,. David P. Thompson Monument, Elk Fountain, the Thompson Elk, or simply ''Elk'', is a historic fountain and bronze sculpture by American artist Roland Hinton Perry. The fount ...

'', a 1900

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

and fountain by

Roland Hinton Perry Roland Hinton Perry (January 25, 1870 – October 27, 1941)"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WRL-TLD : 20 March 2015), Roland Perry, 27 Oct 1941; citing Death, ...

which became a target of graffiti and fires during the protests.

Removal and reactions

On the morning of October 10, 2020, a crew led by

Patriot Prayer Patriot Prayer is a far-right group founded by Joey Gibson in 2016 and based in Vancouver, Washington, a suburban city in the Portland metropolitan area. Since 2016, the group has organized several dozen pro-gun, pro-Trump rallies held in liber ...

supporter Chandler Pappas removed the statue at approximately 9am. Pappas approved and began planning the removal a few days prior. There was little resistance from others during the act; only one man who had been sleeping nearby shouted and watched as the group of 8–10 people easily lifted the sculpture, which was not anchored. Following the statue's removal, Patriot Prayer posted two messages to

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. The first had a photograph of supporters posing with the elk in a trailer bed and said, "He is registered to vote and will now be voting for

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

". Some of the group members were shown flashing the

OK gesture The OK gesture or OK sign or ring gesture (symbol/emoji: "👌") is performed by connecting the thumb and index into a circle, and holding the other fingers straight or relaxed away from the palm. Commonly used by divers, it signifies "I am OK" ...

, in reference to the debunked belief that it was a

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

. The second Twitter post showed a voter registration sheet for "elk Nightmare" and said, "The evil elk is now registered to vote". Pappas insisted the voter registration was not actually submitted for election purposes. He said Patriot Prayer was "having fun" and called the statue removal "a little push back to antifa". Believing antifa supporters erected the sculpture after setting fire to the Thompson Elk, Pappas said, "There can't be a double standard. We toed the line. That elk is just trash so all I really did was clean up trash." He also said the makeshift elk was removed "as a political statement" and the hand gestures were meant "to antagonize" people "who don't know any better". Pappas said the message was directed at

Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th district of the ...

and

Ted Wheeler Edward Tevis Wheeler (born August 31, 1962) is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Portland, Oregon since 2017. He was Oregon State Treasurer from 2010 to 2016. Wheeler was elected in the 2016 Portland mayoral election and ree ...

, the

governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

and mayor of Portland, respectively, as well as other city officials. According to ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' Maxine Bernstein, "Social media lit up with fans and critics of the elk escapade." PDX Frontline Alerts, a Twitter account used to provide updates on the protests, called the statue a "memorial for Black victims of police violence" and accused Patriot Prayer of "bragging" about the removal. Pappas told ''The Oregonian'', "That's not the last you'll see of the elk."

Replacement and subsequent appearance

The metal elk statue was replaced with another sculpture of an elk made of branches, duct tape, and wood pallets. In November 2020, the "nightmare elk" appeared at a rally in support of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river ...

References

External links

* ,

KOIN Koin or KOIN may refer to: * KOIN, a TV station in Portland, Oregon * Koin, Guinea Koin, Guinea (Pular: 𞤂𞤫𞤧-𞤯𞤢𞤤𞤭𞥅𞤪𞤫 𞤑𞤮𞤴𞤭𞤲) is a town and sub-prefecture in the Tougué Prefecture in the Labé Regi ...