Particle.news

Tschabalala Self’s Lady in Blue Installed on Fourth Plinth

The bronze figure presents a contemporary Black 'everywoman' and highlights gaps in who is represented in London’s public statues.

Overview

  • The sculpture was unveiled on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square on 10 September 2026 and is scheduled to stay on the plinth for two years.
  • Lady in Blue is a bronze figure of a young Black woman wearing a painted blue dress and lapis-lazuli–coloured jewellery and is depicted walking with a forward stride.
  • Self says the work is meant as an everyday person rather than a historic commemorative figure and intends the sculpture to offer a contemporary representation of personhood.
  • The Art Newspaper reports that the work has been sold to a private foundation and is expected to move to Fornebu, Norway after the Trafalgar Square display, a detail that other outlets note as unconfirmed.
  • The commission, selected by the independent Fourth Plinth panel chaired by Ekow Eshun and backed by Pilar Corrias and civic funders, adds to a long-running programme that places new contemporary work in a landmark civic site and responds to the scarcity of statues of women of colour in London.