Submission: William, Please Touch

Link to original art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544227

Project Link: https://app.flora.ai/join-project/5547766f-c099-49af-a491-39ae98b1fb1c

Social Post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc6lTpSh6nx/?stkn=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Description of the museum piece that inspired this work:

Hippopotamus ("William"), Middle Kingdom, Egypt, ca. 1961–1878 B.C., faience, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 17.9.1). Found in the tomb of the steward Senbi at Meir, William was buried with three of his four legs deliberately broken — Egyptians believed hippos were dangerous forces of chaos, so even a protective figure had to be disarmed before entering the afterlife. He's been the Met's informal mascot since 1917 and is today the museum's bestselling plush toy.

Storytelling — what inspired the piece and what went behind the creative decisions:

William's been at the Met since 1917. He was found in the tomb of a steward named Senbi, buried with a coffin and some little boat models. Somehow he's turned into the museum's unofficial mascot, he's the gift shop's bestseller, there's a whole plush line based on him.

But the thing that actually got me was smaller than all that. Before he went into the tomb, someone broke three of his legs on purpose. Egyptians thought hippos were dangerous, even in death, so he had to be disarmed before anyone would trust him near a body.

And at the same time, he's painted head to tail in lotus flowers. That's the Egyptian symbol for rebirth, because the flower closes every night and opens again with the sun. So he's carrying two opposite things at once. He's restrained, and he's hopeful. Made safe, and made to promise something coming back to life. He's just been sitting there behind glass holding both of those for four thousand years.

I didn't want to just make him bigger or softer, I wanted the material itself to argue against everything the broken legs were for. A squishy can't hurt you even if it tried. That felt like the right kind of harmless.

So I figured I'd give him the rebirth the lotus was already promising, just a few thousand years late. Same glaze, same lotus pattern. There's a sign next to him now that finally says the one thing that's never been true about him. Please touch.

Social Post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc6lTpSh6nx/?stkn=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Project Link: https://app.flora.ai/join-project/5547766f-c099-49af-a491-39ae98b1fb1c MET Link: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544227 Created with @FLORA for the FLORA Museum Challenge.