Statue of Christ projection mapped with Taylor Swift t-shirt

The famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro has been projection mapped with an image of a Taylor Swift t-shirt.

The mapping of the 38-metre high statue took place on Thursday last week to welcome the pop star as she visited Brazil with her Eras tour.

Taylor’s fans, the so-called Swifties, had been lobbying Rio mayo Eduardo Paes on social media, asking for a likeness of the Junior Jewels t-shirt from Swift’s You Belong with Me music video to be used.

Paes, who had describe Taylor Swift as the Madonna of our times, said he would take the matter to the reverend Oma Raposo, rector of the sanctuary where the statue is based.

In exchange for his agreement, the priest challenged Swifties to raise money to buy food and drinks for the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor. In one day of crowdfunding, fans raised about 180,000 reais (about $37,000), which covered the cost of 20,000 loaves of panettones, a traditional sweet yeast bread, and bottled water for Rio’s homeless.

When the fundraising goal was met, a small team from the sanctuary and a few Swifties began distributing food and drink to those in need, as the statue was lit up.

“Young people like challenges. So we directed the energy of fans to do good,” said Raposo.