I have often advised students to pay attention to any work of art that upsets them or makes them angry. It is probable that something important is going on that they need to process.

This advice is applicable to anyone, not only students. And this brings up the recent furore surrounding the Sally Bassett sculpture recently unveiled in the grounds of the Cabinet Office Building.

At last, an artist in Bermuda, whose work confronts and perhaps upsets. If it upsets, pay attention. Find out why. Is it a valid response? Think about it.

Over the months, I heard various reports about what Carlos Dowling was doing in sculpting a monument to Sally Bassett. The first reports were negative, but there were positive responses as well. Since I had not seen it, I had only these verbal reports to go by. One report was that Mr. Dowling was embellishing history, by depicting a 68-year-old woman as pregnant. I think I also remember something about the flames flaring up around her. It seemed that Mr. Dowling was "milking" the situation.

When I finally got to see the sculpture for myself after the unveiling, I was surprised. It was much better than I had been led to believe and there was no evidence of flames anywhere.

As for being pregnant, her abdomen does slightly protrude, but that could just be the effect of aging stomach muscles. I understand that the artist chose to show her this way as a way of symbolising the legend that after her burning, the Bermudiana flower sprung from her ashes. He thought of her as carrying the seeds of our national flower in her body.

If I were to be picky, I could write about what could be seen as a lack of normal anatomical proportions. Her legs seem too long for her upper body and then her feet and hands seem too small and dainty for someone who had spent a lifetime labouring, doing who knows what – but that is being overly pedantic.

The artist has the right to exaggerate if he so chooses and the length of Ms Bassett's legs may be his way of granting her a degree of dignity; a quality she doubtless never received in real life. The story of Sally Bassett describes her as being defiant and Mr. Dowling has been successful in depicting this quality.

I am aware that there are other concerns about this sculpture, such as the process of awarding the commission and the cost of making it, but that is outside the focus of this review. Those concerns are for an investigative reporter. My concern is solely about the sculpture.

I will end this review with a prediction. I have recently done a little research on slave monuments and invariably, they are initially contentious, but then after the general public accommodates to it, the concern quickly diminishes. This will most likely be the case with our slave monument.

The Sally Bassett monument is an important addition to public sculpture, not only as a way of reminding us of our propensity to inhumanity, but also as a depiction of someone who has become a legendary Bermudian character.