I gotta say, this discussion has intrigued me. I look forward to checking out the statue next time I’m in Boston.
Oops…nevermind 
I happened to be downtown on Saturday for something else, so I swung over and took a couple of shots with my phone. It was crowded both times I walked past. So for some decidedly amateur, in site photos, here you go:
The Boston Globe has run several pieces about it this week
Here’s a new article from the Boston Globe magazine that interviewed people who were visiting the sculpture in person, making a specific distinction between in person viewing and online viewing. Some quotes:
“It reminded me of Rodin’s work a little bit, just the beauty of the human body. Even if it wasn’t someone as important as Martin Luther King, just the humanity of it and the embrace, love, and affection it captures of people touching each other, particularly post-COVID where people had been so distant and disconnected, it had an even bigger impact. I wanted to hug everyone around me.”
“We only see one angle of the statue online, and it’s the kind of sculpture that requires you to turn around and look at it. I thought about another sculpture, like the way people behave around and in the Bean in Chicago — it’s not really about the sculpture, but more about the people. There’s such a crowd around it. It’s more seeing the sculpture in the crowd than really seeing the sculpture.”
“I was shocked by the general discourse around it because the sculpture comes from such a place of respect, admiration, community, and mindfulness — like if you look at it from this angle, it’s the shape of a heart; that’s really lovely. It’s so awesome to see kids running around, people pointing at it, walking through it, and overhearing conversations about it."
Many more comments in the article.