Do you remember Best Friends Forever? The statue of Trump and Epstein created by the mysterious collective The Secret Handshake that appeared in Washington six months ago? In recent days, the same group of artists has struck again with a new intervention in the public space of the American capital.
On Tuesday morning, a new sculpture depicting Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The work, titled The King of the World, openly borrows the imagery of the most iconic scene from Titanic: the one in which Jack and Rose, standing at the bow of the ship, stretch their arms out toward the horizon. Here, however, the protagonists are not two lovers but the former President of the United States and the financier convicted of sex crimes, frozen in a pose that turns one of cinema’s most romantic images into a sharp satire.
In recent months, Washington has become the stage for a series of artistic actions revolving around the same story. Just last week, in Farragut Square, the so-called Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame appeared: a sort of distorted version of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, featuring the names of politicians, billionaires, and public figures who have, over time, been associated with the Epstein scandal.
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The appearance of the new statue comes at a particularly tense moment. The Department of Justice has recently released new documents related to the Epstein case, after facing criticism over its handling of information connected to the investigation. Among the materials made public are also accusations allegedly involving Donald Trump, immediately rejected by the White House, which described them as “completely unfounded allegations lacking any credible evidence.”
Whether it is public art, political provocation, or guerrilla art, the interventions by The Secret Handshake seem to have a clear objective: to periodically bring the issue back into the public space, turning temporary monuments into devices of memory and debate. After all, the moment they appear, these sculptures do exactly what every piece of street art hopes to do: force passersby to stop, look, and take a position.
