Spanish sculptor Javier Viver sues Hakuna Revolution Foundation for alleged plagiarism

Spanish sculptor Javier Viver has filed a lawsuit against the Hakuna Revolution Foundation in Spanish courts over the copyright of a Marian sculpture. Viver is seeking a judicial ruling to determine the relationship between his original work and a second, similar image commissioned by the foundation.

The dispute involves Our Lady of Hakuna, a contemporary depiction of the Virgin Mary. Viver's original sculpture portrays Mary as pregnant, seated on her heels and embracing her womb in a posture of Eucharistic adoration. In 2021, the foundation stopped selling Viver's sculpture and commissioned artist María Elisa Rivera to create a replacement titled Mother of Hakuna, also known as Mother of the Embrace.

Viver alleges that the new work shares elements with his original design. According to the Hakuna website, the second sculpture was inspired by a painting by Matoya Martínez Echevarría that was presented to Pope Francis in Rome in 2018. Viver maintains that the legal issue concerns artistic ownership and copyright rather than a challenge to the religious devotion associated with the images.