The sculptor placed the statue of Kobe, Gianna Bryant at the crash site to mark the 2nd anniversary
A sculptor in Los Angeles on Wednesday marked the two-year anniversary of the deaths of Kobe and Gianna Bryant with an original work of art.
Dan Medina erected a 160-pound statue of the NBA star and his 13-year-old daughter and erected it at the site of the helicopter crash that killed them and 7 others on the morning of the 26th. January 2020, in Calabasas, California The statue depicts Bryant, in a Lakers uniform, placing his hand on his daughter’s shoulder and Gianna holding a basketball.
Medina engraved on the base of the statue the names of all nine people who died. He also engraved the sentence “Heroes come and go, but legends live on”.
A bronze sculpture of basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi, temporarily erected at the crash site in Calabasas on the 2nd anniversary of the disaster that claimed the lives of seven others. Sculptor Dan Medina dragged the 150 lbs sculpture up a steep hill. #girldad pic.twitter.com/L8ln4OtZSq
– Richard Winton (@LAcrimes) January 26, 2022
Medina told TMZ how he got the sculpture to the top of the hill. He said he carried it in a broken-down wagon during his journey up the hill. He also said that the sculpture would only remain at the top of the hill until sunset on Wednesday. He is working on a life-size model that he hopes will stay at the site permanently.
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“I’m willing to donate anything here for free,” Medina told TMZ Wednesday morning. “But that’s the hope, for it to be permanently installed.”
The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the pilot for the crash. It said in its crash report that a series of bad decisions resulted in the pilot flying blindly into a wall of clouds, where he lost his way, leading him to think the helicopter was climbing when it was in fact descending a hill.
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During a 20-year career in the Hall of Fame devoted entirely to the Lakers, Bryant has won five NBA championships, two goalscoring titles, won 18 All Star Awards and 12 All-Defensive teams. He and his wife Vanessa have four children together: Gianna “Gigi”, Natalia Giamante, Binka Bella and Capri Kobe.
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