A 21-foot statue of Shakira has been unveiled to honor the singer take a look
Amanda Goh
- Shakira's hometown of Barranquilla, a city in Colombia, unveiled a statue in honor of her on Tuesday.
- The 21-foot statue, made by sculptor Yino Márquez, depicts the singer shaking her hips.
Shakira's hometown of Barranquilla, a city in Colombia, unveiled a giant statue in honor of the singer on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old singer took to Instagram to express her gratitude as well as share photos of her parents at the unveiling ceremony with the city's mayor, Jaime Pumarejo.
"It makes me happy to share this with my parents and especially with my mother on her birthday," the singer wrote in Spanish in her caption.
Shakira also acknowledged the dedication on the plaque at the bottom of the statue in her caption, saying that the kind words were "too much" for her heart.
"A heart that composes, hips that don't lie, an unmatched talent, a voice that moves the masses and bare feet that march for the good of children and humanity," the plaque read, per a translation from The New York Times.
The 21-foot-tall statue was sculpted by Yino Márquez, a 52-year-old artist who is also an academic coordinator at Barranquilla's public art academy, the Times reported.
The statue depicts Shakira shaking her hips in an iconic pose from her "Hips Don't Lie" music video.
According to the Times, the statue was modeled in clay before being cast in bronze. In all, it took Márquez five months to complete the statue.
Márquez told the Times that they plan to place a light in her hands, which will be switched on at night.
The statue is located along a waterfront promenade in Barranquilla.
In addition to the Shakira statue, the city also decided to erect a statue representing the coat of arms of Barranquilla, per the Times.
In all, both statues cost about 700 million Colombian pesos, or $180,000, to build, the Barranquilla mayor Pumarejo told the Times.
Márquez told the Times that Shakira personally visited him so that he could sculpt the statue as accurately as possible.
When the statue was finally unveiled, Márquez added the singer also reached out to him to express her gratitude.
"Shakira herself called me and told me that I captured her essence very well in the sculpture. That her son saw the sculpture and said that it is the most beautiful sculpture he has ever seen," Márquez told the Times.
Márquez says that he first met Shakira when she was around 15 years old, per the Times.
"Shakira is a symbol of effort, discipline and progress," Márquez said. "For me, she is a fighter."
The "Waka Waka" singer made the news early this year when she broke YouTube records with a diss track seemingly aimed at her ex, Gerard Piqué.
In November, Shakira reached a deal with Spanish prosecutors to settle her tax fraud case, per AP News. Under the deal, she will receive a suspended three-year sentence and be required to pay a fine of 7.3 million euros on top of her previously unpaid taxes and interest. To waive the prison sentence, she will pay another fine of 432,000 euros.
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