On Tuesday, October 13, the climate advocacy group 350 Action installed a life-sized statue of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis outdoors in Tallahassee, directly in front of a crowd of the governor's supporters. The figure was cast in gallium, a metal that softens near room temperature. Under the Florida sun, the statue began to slump and melt within a short time of being unveiled.

The work is titled "DENIAL." As the figure liquefied it left behind a skeletal base, and the transformation was the entire point of the exercise. The timing was pointed: with Floridians set to vote on November 3 to choose DeSantis's successor, the group wanted the governor's climate record placed directly in front of voters during the campaign's final stretch.

The statue's placard carried the line "I am not a global warming person," a phrase DeSantis used during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign. It also referenced House Bill 1645, the 2024 energy law he signed, which struck the phrase "climate change" from Florida statutes and dropped requirements for state agencies to prioritize climate-friendly facilities, among other rollbacks.

A 350 Action spokesperson and organizer told Hyperallergic the gesture mirrored the state's own tactics in reverse: where legislation had used bureaucratic language to erase climate change from public law, the group used a civic monument to let the public watch physical law play out in real time. The spokesperson said the reaction spoke for itself — the laws of nature cannot be argued with, and the public record on the governor's climate stance is not a matter of opinion.