New Delhi: A new five-meter-high sculpture of ‘Lady in Blue’ has been unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square. It is New York artist Tschabalala Self paying homage to a young, metropolitan woman with his art.
The sculpture is a bronze statue of a Black woman wearing a form-fitting blue dress with a slit, matching blue heels and glass-beaded jewelry.
The sculpture will stand on London’s Fourth Plinth for the next two years.
“My work, Lady in Blue, will bring to Trafalgar Square a woman that many can relate to,” said Self. “She is a woman walking forward into our collective future with ambition and purpose. She is a Londoner who represents the city’s spirit.”
This will be the 16th statue placed on the Fourth Plinth. The public art project was started by the Royal Society of Arts and is now supported by the Mayor of London, Arts Council England and Bloomsbury Philanthropies.
Through this art, Self wanted to focus on the past. She wanted the sculpture to represent an ordinary modern woman.
“I wanted everyone to think about the future. I don’t think there are enough monuments that represent the future we will share,” said Self, as reported by CNN Style.
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The Black woman in London
‘Lady in Blue’ is unlike any of the historic landmarks already in Trafalgar Square, including Nelson’s Column and Landseer’s Lions, which date back to the 19th century.
The statue has been given a touch of blue coating made from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone that artists have used for thousands of years in their work.
Self was born in New York in 1990. She works with painting, printmaking and sculpture. She often uses sewn and printed materials to create images of the human body.
In March 2024, Self was announced as one of the winning artists for the Fourth Plinth, along with Andra Ursuta. Ursuta’s work is expected to be installed on the plinth in 2028. Both artists were selected by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, an independent panel led by writer and curator Ekow Eshun.
With the unveiling of ‘Lady in Blue’ it has become one of the few statues in the UK that show a Black woman. Of around 1,500 statues in London, only a small number represent women of colour.
Self is known for creating artwork that shows Black women and explores issues of race, gender and sexuality.
“I just want her to become a Londoner at the end of the day,” she said.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)