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WeHo Artist Puts 50 Mannequins On Roof To Make Statement About Orlando Shooting
"I put 50 bodies on the roof of my house so that people could drive by and see what 50 human bodies looks like—piled up," ChadMichael Morrisette said to NBC 4, when explaining the startling display on top of his home.
On Sunday, after hearing the news about the nightclub shooting in Orlando that left 50 people dead, Morrisette was compelled to place a mannequin for each person killed on the roof of his West Hollywood home. Alongside the mannequins, he has a sign that reads "50 Dead People #GunControl." Morrisette says the piece is called "No One Is Safe."
This is what 50 dead people looks like. #GunControl pic.twitter.com/6Bq9tuu6vU
— @OhMannequin (@OhMannequin) June 12, 2016
"As you can see standing up here in the middle of it, it becomes a little more intense when you're actually stepping over arms and legs," he said to Fox 11. "Imagine this was a dance floor, which is where they were."
Morrisette is a visual designer who creates window displays with mannequins. Sunday was also his birthday.
Passersby to the house near the intersection of Orange Grove and Fountain avenues have been stopping to take pictures. He has mostly been getting positive notes for his display, though one passerby told Fox 11 that it was a little "extreme."
This isn't Morrisette's first time making a bold display out of his home. In 2008, during the presidential campaign, he hung an effigy of Sarah Palin from his roof. He later took it down after speaking with then-West Hollywood mayor Jeff Prang.
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Morrisette hopes the display will compel people to actually make changes, telling Fox 11, "I hope that we can have some actual change within the legislation about the gun control, about the gun laws, about our access to guns, about mental health, about extremism—about all the factors that relate here."
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