A bronze sculpture paying homage to a woman of colour; and a hollow, lifesized person on a horse cast in a slime-green resin will be the next two artworks installed on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.
The works by Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursuța were selected from a shortlist which included Veronica Ryan, Thomas J Price, Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Gabriel Chaile and Ruth Ewan.
Self’s Lady In Blue, which is to be installed in 2026, was inspired by a desire to bring a contemporary “everywoman” to Trafalgar Square. Made of bronze, the work will be patinated with lapis lazuli blue, a pigment that has been used since antiquity in north Africa, the Middle East and Europe, including by artists such as Titian and Vermeer.
The US artist Self, best known for her depictions of female figures using paint, fabric and discarded pieces of her previous works, said she was “honoured” that her sculpture had been selected.
“[It] will bring to Trafalgar Square a woman that many can relate to,” she added. “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 city’s spirit.”
Self also thanked London “for so many milestones” in her practice. “I had my first institutional show here, and later the first presentation of my first major painting series. The city has truly supported my artistic development and I am beyond thrilled to give back to its visual landscape with this public commission.”
Ursuța’s Untitled, which is to be installed in 2028, is intended to embody the multiple histories of public sculpture and commemorative ritual at a time when there is increasing debate about the use of public space. The equestrian statue is said to “hover at the edge of visibility … Is it yet to be uncovered? Or is it an already cancelled public monument – a ghost of history, a parody of itself?”