NEW YORK • The popular yet embattled statue known as Fearless Girl might have to find a new home again, while its creator also contemplates making non-fungible tokens of the Wall Street icon.

The bronze image of a girl standing defiantly with her hands on her hips has come to the end of its three-year permit for the space across from the New York Stock Exchange.

The sculpture's creator, Kristen Visbal, held a press conference on Thursday with Democratic district leader Vittoria Fariello and Mr Todd Fine, president of advocacy group Save Washington Street, advocating for it to stay.

"In America, women have struggled for 121 years and this little sculpture unofficially represents the women's movement. What does it say if we remove her?" Visbal said as she stood next to the statue.

Fearless Girl, commissioned by financial firm State Street in 2017 as a call for companies to add women to their boards, was originally located at the Bowling Green park across from the iconic statue of a charging bull.

It was moved to its current location in 2018 after opposition from the bronze bull creator Arturo Di Modica.

Since 2019, the Fearless Girl statue has been the subject of a legal battle between Visbal and State Street, which has sued to keep the artist from creating and selling replicas.

State Street and Visbal are both petitioning for Fearless Girl to stay where she is. The company has submitted an application to keep the statue there and has been assured by the Landmarks Preservation Commission that no action will be taken even though the permit has expired.

Visbal said in an interview that she wants to issue a casting of her work that she can own and do what she pleases with. She hoped to install statues around the world, lamenting legal restraints that "ruined" the message and intent of her work.

"What is best for the messaging of Fearless Girl is that both the corporation and I use this work," Visbal said. "She must be shared."

Meanwhile, Visbal is working on non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the Fearless Girl statue which she hopes will be ready for sale next month.

BLOOMBERG