American artist Tschabalala Self has unveiled Lady in Blue (2026) on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, Central London, the 16th commission in the programme’s history. The bronze sculpture, patinated with lapis lazuli blue—a rare ultramarine pigment historically favoured by Renaissance masters including Titian—will remain on the plinth for two years.
Lady in Blue depicts a young Black woman caught in full stride, her body leaning forward with momentum. The figure rises to a monumental scale above the plinth’s stone base, her silhouette bold against the classical architecture of Trafalgar Square.
“She is not an idol to venerate or a historic figurehead to commemorate,” the artist said in an interview with the Press Association. “She is a woman striding forward into our collective future with ambition and purpose. She is a Londoner, who represents the city’s spirit.”
Three of Trafalgar Square’s four plinths hold permanent statues of 19th-century British figures; the fourth has been dedicated since 1998 to temporary commissions selected by The Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, making it one of the most significant platforms for public sculpture in the world. The commission was welcomed by Justine Simons OBE, London's deputy mayor for culture, who described the work as “a bold contemporary sculpture of a confident young woman striding out with purpose.”
The commission carries particular weight given what happened to Self’s previous public sculpture in Britain. In 2022, she unveiled Seated at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, London, before the work travelled to the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, South East England. There, it was targeted by vandals who spraypainted the sculpture white, but only on the skin of the figure. “That was a completely racist act,” Self said in an interview with The Guardian ahead of the Fourth Plinth unveiling. “The first feeling I had was just pain that my sculpture had been harmed. That someone had enacted violence on an object I had imbued with love and affection.”
Rather than organize a protest, Self pushed for a community cleanup day. Hundreds queued to take part, and by the end all the paint had been removed. Asked by The Guardian whether she is anxious about the far larger public stage of Trafalgar Square, she was direct. “I’m not nervous—I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion of the sculpture. Each will shed light onto some facet of the reality we're all currently living.”
Born in Harlem in 1990, Self has built a practice centred on the Black female figure, working across canvas, fabric and found materials to construct bodies of striking physical presence. Her work is held in the collections of MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Albertina Museum in Vienna, and she has had institutional exhibitions at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and the ICA Boston. London has played a significant role in Self’s career: her first major institutional show was mounted at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2020, and the city also hosted the debut presentation of her first major series of paintings. “The central message of my work,” she has said, “is that all people should feel embodied—confident and comfortable, empowered in their body.”
Lady in Blue replaces Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) (2024) by Teresa Margolles. Previous Fourth Plinth commissions include Antelope (2022) by Samson Kambalu, THE END (2020) by Heather Phillipson, and Really Good (2016) by David Shrigley. The first commission, in 1999 was Mark Wallinger’s Ecce Homo.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/6RLaJKz
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