In Hereditary director Ari Aster's latest film, Midsommar, a Swedish festival on the summer solstice descends into a hell-scape of Maypole dancing, human sacrifices and pubic hair pies.

We can only imagine this was the moodboard in mind for a new statue of Melania Trump, which has been erected in her home town of Sevnica, Slovenia. Carved, as you might be able to tell, using a chainsaw, the work was commissioned by American artist Brad Downey and cut from a tree by local artist Ales Zupevc.

It joins the esteemed company of other modern classics such as the bronze immortalisation of Cristiano Ronaldo, and the statue of Mo Salah which looks considerably more like Leo Sayer, Art Garfunkel, Marv from Home Alone, or any other human being.

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The carved wooden figure features two ogreish eyes, tightly-knit eyebrows, a grimacing mouth and what looks like a third attempt at an eye on its cheek. In the image she is wearing a blue coat, perhaps inspired by the one that she wore to Trump's inauguration, and lifting a club-like hand to the sky.

The artist, whose past works include Wisdom Testicles and Cactus Hand told Reuters that he wanted to "have a dialogue" with the political situation, however a leaflet available in an exhibition of Downey's work in Slovenia's capital of Ljubljana suggests the statue "might only be a slapstick prank".

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From the images that have been captured of the statue it seems more likely that it has been erected as promotion for Midsommar – flies landing on the wooden head of Melania, her empty gaze looking out onto a golden cornfield, waiting for the final sacrifice to be performed.

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