Statue of Kobe Bryant, daughter placed at crash site on anniversary

A sculpture of Kobe and Gianna “Gigi” Bryant was placed at the site of the helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., that claimed their lives two years ago.

The statue, which stands at 4 feet tall, was created by artist Dan Medina, Los Angeles outlet KTLA reported. It features Bryant wearing his Lakers jersey with his arm around Gianna, who is also in a basketball jersey holding a ball.

Medina told KTLA that although he isn’t a big basketball fan, he is “definitely a Kobe fan.”

“I think that he was bigger than the sport itself,” Medina said. “He was an intellect, he was an amazing father, he was an inspiration to many.” 

The artist told NBC News that he was motivated to bring the sculpture to the crash site for the second anniversary to provide “a bit of a healing process for fans.”

“Today was special because I witnessed a lot of that. People would come up and they would leave with some sort of satisfaction,” Medina said. 

Kobe and Gianna Bryant were killed on Jan. 26, 2020, when the pilot of the helicopter carrying them and seven other people became disoriented flying through clouds.

The artist told KTLA that he plans to install a permanent, life-size version of the sculpture in downtown Los Angeles to honor all of the victims.