Giant pigeon statue on New York’s High Line challenges residents’ views on immigration

Perched on New York’s High Line, a six-metre-tall (20-foot) pigeon is watching over the city’s residents and challenging their views about themselves and the place in which they live.

The hand-painted statue, called Dinosaur, was created by Colombian artist Iván Argote and is on show at the converted elevated railway line in southwest Manhattan.

“I feel like this sculpture could trigger uncanny feelings of attraction, seduction and fear among New Yorkers,” Argote says.

Cast in aluminium, the colossal, hyperrealistic sculpture also challenges more conventional statues, he says.

“Dinosaur recognises the seemingly prosaic figure of the pigeon and celebrates its anonymity amongst the urban landscape, while also taking aim at classic monuments erected in honour of great men, who all too often are neither honourable nor great,” Argote says on his website.

The sculpture suggests the “not tame, but no longer wild birds are likely more deserving of being placed on a pedestal and celebrated for their contributions to society than most”, he says.