A striding bronze woman patinated in lapis lazuli blue is about to take over one of London’s most photographed pieces of public art: Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth gets its 16th commission this September.
Lady in Blue, a new bronze sculpture by New York-based artist Tschabalala Self, will be unveiled on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square on 10 September 2026, replacing Teresa Margolles’ Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant), the arrangement of 850 cast masks of trans and non-binary sitters that has occupied the plinth since September 2024.
Self’s sculpture depicts a young, metropolitan woman of colour caught mid-stride, patinated in lapis lazuli blue, a pigment prized since antiquity. The artist has described her as “a woman striding forward into our collective future with ambition and purpose”, a contemporary Londoner standing in for the city itself.
Who is Tschabalala Self, and why does this commission matter to her
Self is best known for her paintings and textile works exploring Black femininity and the body, and this marks her first major public sculpture in the UK. She has a longstanding connection to London: “I had my first institutional show here, and later the first presentation of my first major painting series,” she said. “The city has truly supported my artistic development.” She’s described the figure as functioning as a Londoner, one who “represents the city’s spirit.”
The sculpture was chosen by the independent Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, chaired by writer and curator Ekow Eshun OBE, after more than 10,000 public comments were submitted on the shortlisted proposals. It’s funded by the Mayor of London, with support from Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
A plinth with a habit of causing a stir
Trafalgar Square’s four plinths were built in the 1840s, three of them filled fairly promptly with statues of military men, but the fourth stood empty for more than 150 years after funds for its intended equestrian statue ran out. It’s been used for a rotating programme of contemporary art commissions since 1999, beginning with Mark Wallinger’s Ecce Homo, and has become one of the most talked-about pieces of public art in the country precisely because each new work tends to provoke a reaction, from Marc Quinn’s pregnant, disabled Alison Lapper Pregnant to Michael Rakowitz’s The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, a recreation of a destroyed Iraqi artefact built from date syrup cans.
Lady in Blue will debut just before London Sculpture Week (19 to 27 September 2026), and will remain on the plinth until 2028, when it’s due to be succeeded by an untitled work by Romanian artist Andra Ursuța.
The current commission, Teresa Margolles’ Mil Veces un Instante, remains in place at the time of writing. For more on the plinth’s history and previous commissions, see our full guide to the Fourth Plinth, we’ll be updating that piece separately once Lady in Blue is officially in place.
The London x London Take: the Fourth Plinth rarely plays it safe, and a monumental blue woman striding across one of London’s grandest tourist squares is no exception, expect this one to become a fixture of everyone’s Trafalgar Square photos from the moment it goes up. Swing by on or after 10 September, and pair it with a wander through the National Gallery or a coffee in the square itself.
Need to know
- Where: The Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
- When: Unveiled 10 September 2026, on display until 2028
- Price: Free, viewable at any time
- More info: Mayor of London / City Hall announcement
