You’ve seen the image. A bronze girl, chin up, hands on her hips, staring down a massive, charging bull in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial District. When those first fearless girl photos hit social media in March 2017, they didn't just go viral. They exploded. People were lined up for blocks just to get a selfie with her. It felt like a spontaneous moment of feminist defiance, a "David vs. Goliath" story cast in metal.
But honestly? The reality is a lot more corporate—and way more complicated—than a simple street art installation.
The statue wasn't a rogue act of guerrilla art. It was a calculated marketing campaign by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), designed by the ad agency McCann New York. They installed it right before International Women’s Day to push for more gender diversity on corporate boards. It worked. Within days, the image was everywhere. But the story behind those photos involves lawsuits, accusations of hypocrisy, and a very angry sculptor who felt his own masterpiece was being hijacked.
The Morning the World Woke Up to a New Wall Street
It was supposed to be temporary. Kristen Visbal, the sculptor, stayed up through the night to ensure the four-foot-tall bronze was bolted down to the cobblestones of Bowling Green. When the sun came up on March 7, 2017, the optics were perfect. You had the Fearless Girl standing just feet away from Arturo Di Modica’s iconic Charging Bull.
The contrast was jarring.
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The bull is 11 feet tall and weighs 7,100 pounds. It represents "virility and courage" following the 1987 stock market crash. Then you have this small girl, maybe 10 years old, looking like she’s about to tell that bull to sit down and shut up.
Social media did the rest of the work. People didn't see an ad for an index fund; they saw a symbol of the #MeToo movement, which was gaining massive steam at the time. The statue became a pilgrimage site.
The Controversy You Might Not Remember
Not everyone was cheering. Arturo Di Modica, the man who created the Charging Bull, was absolutely livid.
He called the installation an "advertising trick." To him, the placement of the girl fundamentally changed the meaning of his work. He had spent $350,000 of his own money to create the bull as a gift to the city, symbolizing American resilience. By placing the girl in front of it, SSGA turned his symbol of strength into a villain—a predator that a child had to stand up to.
"I put it there for art," Di Modica told reporters at the time. "She is there for an ad."
There’s a legitimate legal and ethical question here about "moral rights" in art. If you put a new statue next to an old one to change its meaning, are you vandalizing the original artist's intent? Di Modica's lawyers argued that the fearless girl photos were essentially using his bull as a prop without his permission.
Then things got even more awkward for State Street.
Only months after the statue went up, the U.S. Department of Labor hit State Street with a massive settlement. The company agreed to pay $5 million after allegations surfaced that they had underpaid hundreds of female and Black executives. Critics pounced. How could a company celebrate "Fearless Girl" while reportedly short-changing the actual women in their offices? It was a PR nightmare that threatened to swallow the statue's legacy whole.
Why the Photos Keep Changing
If you go to Bowling Green today looking for that classic shot of the girl facing the bull, you won’t find it. She’s gone. Or rather, she moved.
Due to safety concerns—mostly crowds spilling into the street to get their fearless girl photos—the city moved her in late 2018. She now stands directly across from the New York Stock Exchange. The bull stayed behind.
Does the move matter?
Kinda. When she was facing the bull, the narrative was about confrontation. It was a fight. Now that she’s facing the NYSE, the narrative has shifted to "inclusion." She’s looking at the building where the decisions happen, demanding a seat at the table. It’s less aggressive, more institutional.
But the move also sparked a long-running legal battle between the sculptor, Kristen Visbal, and State Street. SSGA sued Visbal, claiming she was making unauthorized copies of the statue for other organizations. Visbal countersued, arguing the company was trying to stifle her "artistic soul" and control a symbol that had become bigger than any one corporation.
The legal documents in these cases are thousands of pages long. They tackle everything from trademark law to the definition of what makes an "original" piece of art. It’s a mess.
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Breaking Down the Visual Power
Why did these specific photos resonate so deeply? It’s all about the "low-angle shot."
If you look at the most famous fearless girl photos, the photographer is usually crouching down. This makes the girl look taller and more imposing. It puts the viewer on her level. You feel her defiance.
- The Wind: Her dress and hair are blowing slightly, implying a storm is coming or she's standing her ground in a gale.
- The Stance: It’s not a "pretty" pose. It’s a power pose. Feet shoulder-width apart, elbows out.
- The Scale: She is intentionally small. If she were adult-sized, she wouldn't be "fearless"; she'd just be a competitor. Being a child makes her an underdog.
The Reality of Boardroom Diversity Since 2017
State Street’s goal wasn't just to make a pretty statue. They launched a campaign targeting companies with zero women on their boards. They actually used their power as a major shareholder to vote against the chairmen of nominating committees at companies that didn't make progress.
According to SSGA’s own reporting, by 2023, nearly 1,000 of the companies they identified as having all-male boards had added at least one woman. That’s a tangible result.
However, gender parity in the C-suite is still a long way off. According to the 2023 "Women in the Workplace" report by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org, women—especially women of color—remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership. The "broken rung" at the first step up to manager continues to hold the system back.
The statue is a symbol, but the data shows the "fearless" part is still a daily requirement for women navigating corporate politics.
How to View the Statue Today
If you’re planning to visit and take your own fearless girl photos, here is what you need to know about the current setup.
She is located at 11 Wall Street. The lighting is best in the early morning because the tall buildings of the Financial District cast heavy shadows by mid-afternoon. If you want that "clean" shot without twenty tourists in the background, you have to get there before 8:00 AM.
While you're there, notice the plaque at her feet. It says: "Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference." The "SHE" is also the ticker symbol for State Street’s Gender Diversity Index ETF. It’s a constant reminder that in New York, art and commerce are rarely separated.
Actionable Steps for Understanding Public Art and Corporate Social Responsibility
If you want to look beyond the viral image and understand the actual impact of symbols like this, here is how to dive deeper:
Check the Proxy Voting Records
Don't just take a company's word for their values. If you own stocks or index funds, look at how the fund managers vote on diversity initiatives. Major firms like BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street publish annual stewardship reports that detail exactly how they pressured (or didn't pressure) companies to diversify their leadership.
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Research the Visual Rights Act (VARA)
If the Di Modica vs. State Street drama fascinated you, look up the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. It’s a fascinating piece of U.S. law that protects an artist’s right to prevent "intentional distortion, mutilation, or other modification" of their work. It’s the reason why the move of the statue was so legally precarious.
Support the Actual Artists
Symbols are great, but the people who make them often get lost in the corporate shuffle. Follow Kristen Visbal’s current work. She has continued to advocate for the statue's message independently of the corporate interests that commissioned it. Understanding the friction between an artist's vision and a client's "deliverable" provides a much clearer picture of why these public installations are so contentious.
Audit Your Own Circles
The "Fearless Girl" was a call to action for corporate boards. On a smaller scale, look at the organizations you belong to—nonprofits, local government committees, or your own workplace. Are the "boards" in your life representative of the population? Symbols like the statue are designed to make us ask that question in our own backyard, not just on Wall Street.
The legacy of the statue isn't just a collection of cool photos. It’s a case study in how a piece of bronze can become a lightning rod for conversations about feminism, copyright, and the ethics of "brand activism." Whether you see her as a hero or a clever marketing gimmick, she’s changed the way we look at the streets of Lower Manhattan forever.