On September 23, 2025, a statue called Best Friends Forever created by a group called “The Secret Handshake” appeared in front of the U.S. Capitol.
This statue depicts President Donald Trump and Jeffery Epstein holding hands while joyfully skipping. The plaque on the statue reads as “In honor of friendship month, we celebrate the long-standing bond between President Donald J. Trump and his closest friend Jeffrey Epstein.”
“The Secret Handshake” group did obtain a permit to display this statue from the National Park Service. However, it apparently did not comply with the issued permit. You may be wondering: how so? Well, it was never really explained. Unfortunately, the statue was damaged and taken down on September 24, 2025.
Damage to the statues can be seen here:
But! The statue has recently reappeared at the National Mall after repairs were done. And with that news, I’d like to mark the importance of messages in art.
Recently, I’ve been befuddled by the increasing potential of generative Artificial Intelligence. As much as we’d like to push it aside as being inferior, it is very much catching up. But there is one thing that we, as humans, will always have over it. And that is, creativity and messaging.
Just because anyone can create art, it doesn’t mean that they should. Nor does it mean it will be good. The ideas and intentions behind it are what make it special. Anyone can enter a prompt, but it’s the precision and intention that makes human-made creations special. What makes it captivating and stays by us. How it connects to us.
One form of art that is so important with its messaging is protest. Just as the statue Best Friends Forever, communicates a deep controversy in just one object, art that we create can make up for a thousand words. We as artists need to apply ourselves to continue to stay relevant. Embrace what makes art special, what you can do with this skill, and persist by creating more and more works.
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Featured Image: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-statue-returns-national-mall-capitol-rcna235314
Best Friends Forever: http://washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/09/24/trump-epstein-statue-removed-dc-national-mall/
Damage to Statues: https://www.thedailybeast.com/photos-show-how-trump-goons-smashed-up-epstein-statue/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/politics/video/trump-epstein-statue-removal-national-mall-digvid
General Information Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/03/nx-s1-5561891/trump-epstein-statue-returns-national-mall
https://www.thedailybeast.com/photos-show-how-trump-goons-smashed-up-epstein-statue
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/politics/trump-epstein-statue-returns-national-mall