Bearing Witness is an outdoor 1997 sculpture by Martin Puryear, installed outside the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., in the United States.

[5] This structure is the result of a partnership between Puryear and a Rhode island based shipbuilding company which he worked with to construct the sculpture.

[2] It is colloquially referred to as “the thumb” by locals, and is the site of occasional concerts, art “jams”, and food tabling.

[10]  Many observers connect the form of the sculpture to that of a head, or possibly a fang mask, which inspired many of Puryear’s other artworks.

[6] Art critic David Levi-Strauss makes the claim that the sculpture is inspired by the head of Puryear’s daughter, Sasha.