Tossing off the Bowlines

They stand there silently, hovering at the precipice, as though deciding whether to jump.

The first one I saw startled the heck out of me. We were taking a tour of Sao Paulo and I glanced up at the rooftops and saw him. I realized it was a statue and mentioned it to Tom and Woody (our friend and tour companion). Oddly enough, Tom had just read about them. They’re unofficially known as the Suicide Statues, or the Jumpers.

The brainchild of artist Anthony Gormley, these suicide statues  arrived in Sao Paulo in early May and, predictably, the panicked calls to emergency services began immediately, with reports of people trying to jump from buildings. With 31 of these positioned on rooftops around the inner city, they’ve drawn a lot of eyes, and calls.

The life-size body cast sculptures are part of the artist’s first show Brazil, being held at the Centro…

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