Berlin artist places outsize humanoid bug sculpture in Central Park

Berlin-based artist Monira Al Qadiri placed a giant aluminium beetle in New York's Central Park, in a sculpture that locates the giant bug on the face of the bust of a woman.

Her work, some 5 metres tall, can be seen in Manhattan's Central Park until August 2026, highlights the growing alienation between humans and nature.

The sculpture, called "First Sun," depicts a scarab and a person and is based on an Egyptian deity, according to the Public Art Fund, which oversees art in New York's public spaces.

She recreated the ancient Egyptian deity Khepri - god of the rising sun - as a contemporary monument, underscoring the modern divide between humans and the natural world, the fund said.

The Kuwaiti artist, born in Senegal in 1983, is showing how certain animals were revered in ancient cultures - though today, insects are often feared or ignored.

"The gleaming sculpture suggests a future where humans and other animals live in greater balance, where even the most humble insects are revered for the essential role they play in sustaining all life on Earth—including our own," the fund said.

"'First Sun’ challenges us to recognise the divine in what we might otherwise overlook," Al Qadiri was quoted as saying.