Alex Vellis, the artist behind a graffiti art installation at Canterbury Cathedral, responded this week to criticism of his work fielded primarily by conservative commentators—including Elon Musk and US Vice President JD Vance.
The installation, part of a presentation at the British cathedral called “HEAR US,” features an array of questions posed in response to another query: “What would you ask God?” The work was made via workshops of “marginalized communities—including the Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent individuals, and the LGBTQIA+ population,” per Vellis’s collaborator, Jacqueline Creswell.
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In a font recalling spray-painted tags, the installation includes sentences such as “What is the architecture of heaven?” and “Why are you indifferent to suffering?” These phrases do not appear to have actually been spray-painted onto the historic cathedral’s architecture, however.
“It is weird to me that these people don’t see the irony of honoring ‘marginalized communities’ by making a beautiful historical building really ugly,” wrote Vance on X.
Also on X, Musk wrote, “Relentless anti-Western propaganda has made so many people in the West want to suicide their own culture. Unfortunately, propaganda works.”
On Monday, Vellis, a poet, responded on their Instagram Story to Vance and Musk, writing, “After a weekend of people trying to tear me apart online, all I can tell you is that @jdvance and @elonmusk both give off small dick energy.” Vellis ended the post by including #freepalestine.
Vellis also used that hashtag on another post with a screenshot of a Google search for articles about the installation. “It’s nice to get your work out there, you know?” they wrote.