Why is Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid one of the world’s most battered artworks?

The harmless waterfront statue has been sawn off twice, lost an arm, blown up with dynamite, dumped into the sea and splashed with paint. Easily accessible at the water’s edge, she makes a headline-grabbing target—and a megaphone for others’ causes.

For over a century, she’s been cast as a feminist icon, political slogan and even a “racist fish” during Black Lives Matter protests. Activists dressed her in a burqa to protest migration policies; animal-rights campaigners painted her blood red to support whales. So many attacks have left the original parts replaced by replicas. Yet the bronze figure keeps returning to her rock, Denmark’s resilient and unlikely symbol.

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