Sculpture featuring faces of transgender, non binary and gender non-conforming people is unveiled on fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square (but still theres no statue of the late Queen)
Hundreds of plaster face casts of transgender, non binary and gender non-conforming people which will disintegrate over time have gone on display on Trafalgar Squares famed fourth plinth.
Hundreds of plaster face casts of transgender, non binary and gender non-conforming people which will disintegrate over time have gone on display on Trafalgar Squares famed fourth plinth.
Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles features 726 faces and weighs a hefty 3.3 metric tons, or just over 7,000lbs.
Over the next 18 months, the faces will be naturally weathered by the wind and rain and fade away, leaving a kind of anti-monument, the artist previously told The Guardian.
Margolles, who trained as a forensic pathologist and once worked in a morgue, is known for creating works using blood and material from crime scenes to explore death and conflict.
At the beginning of her career she was given a stillborn fetus by a mother which she encased in cement and was known for smuggling blood and grease from autopsies to use in her sculptures.
Hundreds of plaster face casts of transgender , non binary and gender non-conforming people which will disintegrate over time have gone on display on Trafalgar Squares fourth plinth
Mexican artist Teresa Margolles (centre) looks on as her artwork Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) was unveiled in London today
A member of the public takes in the new artwork, which will be naturally weathered by the wind and rain and fade away over the next 18 months
While her latest work is not quite as morbid, the new sculpture evokes a Tzompantli, a rack used in Mesoamerican civilizations to display the skulls of captured enemies and sacrifice victims.
It pays tribute to one of the artists friends, a transgender woman named Karla who was killed in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in 2015. The crime remains unsolved.
We pay this tribute to her and to all the other people who were killed for reasons of hate, the artist said.
But, above all, to those who live on, to the new generations who will defend the power to freely choose to live with dignity.
Organisers of the project say the work will naturally age while on display, with the detail of the faces slowly fading as the plaster is exposed to the elements.
One of Londons main gathering spots for tourists and protesters, Trafalgar Square was named for Admiral Horatio Nelsons 1805 victory over the French and Spanish fleets.
A statue of the one-armed admiral stands atop Nelsons Column at the center of the square, and statues of other 19th-century military leaders are nearby.
The fourth plinth - a 24-foot (7-meter) high stone pedestal - was erected in 1841 for a never-completed statue of William IV, but money ran out.
It remained empty until 1999, when an initiative was put forward for a revolving series of artworks to occupy the plinth.
Previous artworks included a giant bronze thumb, a sculpture of a giant swirl of whipped cream topped with a cherry, a fly and a drone, and 2,400 members of the public who each stood atop the plinth for an hour over the course of 100 days.
Despite repeated calls for one of the late Elizabeth II, there are as yet no plans for one to be erected and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has maintained the fourth plinth will be for revolving artworks, not permanent statues.
The most recent Fourth Plinth artwork was created by Malawi-born artist Samson Kambalu.
His sculpture Antelope depicted a 1914 photograph of Baptist preacher John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley.
The original picture his artwork is based on looks ordinary at a first glance, Kambalu previously said.
But when you research the photograph, you find that actually theres subversion there, because at that time in 1914 it was forbidden for Africans to wear hats before white people, he said.
The picture shows the two men opening a church.
Kambalu said: For me, the Fourth Plinth and my proposals were always going to be a litmus test for how much I belong to British society as an African and as a cosmopolitan, and so this fills me with joy and excitement.
Its a big commission, probably the biggest I will ever do, unless we have another commission on Mars.
Margolles was selected by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group after nearly 17,500 members of the public voted for their favourite designs.
Margolles, who trained as a forensic pathologist, is known for creating works using blood and material from crime scenes to explore death and conflict
At the time of voting, activists on X encouraged their followers to vote for Margolles as a way to outrage the usual snowflakes.
One wrote: Can you imagine the outrage from the usual snowflakes if Teresa Margolles artwork wins? Thats motivation enough to vote for it!
While another said: Lets give the trans community more visibility by commissioning Teresa Margolles 850 Improntas to be displayed on Trafalgar Square next year. Vote now!
And LGBT+ History Month said: We could be biased but we would like to suggest you vote for Improntas (Imprint), by Teresa Margolles, which features casts of the faces of 850 trans people, most of whom are sex workers.
In March it was revealed that a sculpture which pays homage to a young, metropolitan woman of colour and a life-sized person on a horse cast in slime-green resin will feature on the Fourth Plinth in 2026 and 2028 respectively.
Artists Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursuta will join an illustrious list of renowned artists, including Sir Antony Gormley and Dame Rachel Whiteread who have previously exhibited their work in the capital.
US artist Tschabalala Selfs artwork entitled Lady in Blue is one of two artworks chosen to be displayed on the Fourth Plinth of Trafalgar Square
Romanian-American artist Andra Ursutas artwork Untitled, pictured, will be displayed on the Fourth Plinth in 2028
New York-born artist Selfs Lady In Blue sculpture will be installed in 2026.
Her bronze artwork is inspired by a contemporary everywoman, patinated with Lapis Lazuli blue - a rare and refined pigment that has been used since antiquity with global historical significance.
My work "Lady In Blue" will bring to Trafalgar Square a woman that many can relate to, Self said.
She is not an idol to venerate or a historic figurehead to commemorate.
She is a woman striding forward into our collective future with ambition and purpose.
She is a Londoner, who represents the citys spirit.
Self said the city of London has supported my artistic development and she is beyond thrilled to be giving back to the visual landscape with the commission.
Calls had been made for a statue of Queen Elizbeth II to be erected in Trafalgar Square. Pictured: A Statue of the Queen in Gravesend, Kent
London is the best possible home for such a powerful figure as Lady In Blue, she added.
Meanwhile Untitled by Romanian-born Ursuta will be installed in 2028.
The hollow equestrian statue covered in a shroud embodies multiple histories of public sculpture, during an increasing debate about the use of public space.
My work deals with history; history makes sense of us as we try to make sense of it, she said.
Trafalgar Square is a place where multiple histories face one another in an open-ended standoff.
It will never be finished. This is such a crucial, and beautiful, accident.
The pair were selected from a seven-strong shortlist including Liverpool-born Chila Kumari Singh Burman; Argentinian Gabriel Chaile; Scottish Ruth Ewan; London-born Thomas J Price and Montserrat-born Veronica Ryan.
From Nelsons ship to a really big thumbs up: What were the past fourth plinth commissions?
The idea for the fourth plinth commissions came from Prue Leith in 1994 when she was the chair of the Royal Society of Arts.
She wrote a letter to the Evening Standard suggesting that something should be created to put on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Five years later the plinths first artwork was erected.
1999: Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger
The Latin title of this sculpture means Behold the Man, in reference to the words of Pontius Pilate at Jesuss trial, according to the bible. The sculpture shows a man standing with his arms behind his back wearing just a loincloth.
2000: Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow.
He intended to challenge and question mans inability to learn lessons from the past with his sculpture depicting a head crushed between a book and the roots of a tree.
2001: Untitled by Rachel Whiteread
While discussing her inspiration for the artwork - a cast of the plinth in transparent resin placed upside-down on top of the original, Ms Whiteread said: After spending time in Trafalgar Square observing the people, traffic, pigeons, architecture, sky and fountains, I became acutely aware of the general chaos of Central London life. I decided that the most appropriate sculpture would be a pause, a quiet moment for the space.
2005: Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn
A 12ft, 13-tonne Carrara marble torso-bust of Alison Lapper, an artist who was born with no arms and shortened legs due to a condition called phocomelia. It was created to explore representations of beauty and the human form in public space, and was remade on an even more monumental scale for the closing ceremony of the London Paralympics in 2012.
2007: Model for a Hotel by Thomas Schutte
A 5-metre by 4.5-metre by 5-metre architectural model of a 21-storey building made from coloured glass designed to feel like a sculpture of brilliance and light.
2009: One & Other by Antony Gormley
Over the span of 100 consecutive days, 2,400 selected members of the public were allowed to spend one hour on the plinth doing whatever they liked.
For safety the plinth was surrounded by a net and a team of six stewards. Gormley said: Its about people coming together to do something extraordinary and unpredictable.
2010: Nelsons Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare
This work is a depiction of Nelsons ship, HMS Victory, with sails made of printed fabric in a colourful West African pattern inside a large glass bottle stopped with a cork. The bottle was 4.7 metres long and 2.8 metres in wide. The artwork was the first commission by a black British artist
2012: Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset
A 13ft bronze sculpture of a boy on a rocking horse. In contrast with the squares other statues celebrating kings and military leaders, this commission was designed to show the heroism of growing up. It was unveiled by actress Joanna Lumley who called it a completely unthreatening and adorable creature.
2013: Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch
A 15ft blue sculpture of a cockerel. The artist has described the cockerel as symbolising regeneration, awakening and strength.
2015: Gift Horse by Hans Haacke
The sculpture shows a skeletal horse with no rider. Haacke said he created the artwork as a tribute to Scottish economist Adam Smith and English painter George Stubbs - the horse is based on an engraving by Stubbs published in 1766.
2016: Really Good by David Shrigley
A 23ft bronze sculpture of a human hand in a thumbs up gesture with the thumb greatly elongated.
2018: The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Michael Rakowitz
The sculpture was a recreation of a similar one that stood at the entrance to Nergal Gate of Nineveh from 700 B.C. and depicts a winged bull and deity made out of empty Iraqi date syrup cans. The original was destroy by ISIS in 2015.
2020: The End by Heather Phillipson
The sculpture showed a dollop of whipped cream with an assortment of toppings including a cherry, a fly and a drone - which filmed passersby and displayed them on an attached screen.
2022: Antelope by Samson Kambalu
Malawi-born artist Samson Kambalus work depicts a 1914 photograph of Baptist preacher John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley
