A wax replica of the Lincoln Memorial statue melts during a heat wave in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2024. Photo: Allison Robbert/The Washington Post (Getty Images)
The east coast of the U.S. has been experiencing a punishing heat wave over the past week, with cities like Washington D.C. hitting 100 degrees and breaking all kinds of heat-related records. Combine that with the very real possibility that Donald Trump could be president again, and there’s perhaps no better symbol of the peril this country is currently facing than a wax statue of Abe Lincoln in the nation’s capital. Honest Abe literally melted in the heat.
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The statue was created by Richmond-based artist Sandy Williams IV and installed at Garrison Elementary School last February, according to the Washington Post. And it’s not like organizers didn’t foresee the possibility of the statute melting. As the Post explains, Abe was installed under trees that provided shade cover to ensure it received some protection when the sun was out.
But that strategizing wasn’t enough to spare Lincoln from the elements. With temperatures in the high 90s, even hitting 100 degrees at Dulles Airport over the weekend, Abe started to melt.
Passersby in Washington did what people of the 2020s do anytime something notable happens. They captured photos and videos, posting them to social media for all the world to see. People made plenty of sexually suggestive jokes about Lincoln in their online posts as well, including references to Nancy Reagan and the “Hawk Tuah” meme, which you can read about at Know Your Meme if you haven’t seen it in your own feeds.
Oddly enough, the artist chose to work in wax precisely because the intention was for the art to eventually melt, just not like this. Williams told the Post that this particular wax was supposed to endure heat up to 140 degrees. Previous works of art by Williams done in wax have been intentionally melted by lighting wicks attached to the sculptures. In that way, the art is intended to be interactive.
“I am interested in visualizing change and building monuments able to keep a living record of activity,” Williams told East City Art back in February. “By melting these wax versions of famous monuments, people are given agency over these forms that are normally (legally) untouchable.”
The elements got to Lincoln before humans could do their worst. Or, in some ways, we already have done our worst on account of climate change. Thankfully, Washington is getting a slight reprieve from the heat right now, with temperatures only forecast to hit 91 on Tuesday. But summer has just started. And it’s pretty much guaranteed there will be plenty of more heat to come in the weeks, months, and years ahead.