Following the removal of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol during a Black Lives Matter demonstration, a new sculpture has been revealed after a secret dawn operation of a BLM protester. Tara Pilkington reports.
Artist Marc Quinn created and erected the new sculpture ‘A Surge of Power’, without the permission of the council, of Bristolian Jen Reid after she was photographed standing on the plinth after Colston’s statue was pulled down by anti-racism protesters back in June.
Ms Reid said that the new statue was about: “Making a stand for my mother, for my daughter, for black people like me.”
She added: “Creating this sculpture is so important as it helps keep the journey towards racial justice and equity moving, because black lives matter every day.”
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees has responded to this new statue and said the future of the plinth “must be decided by the people of Bristol”.
The idea for this statue, according to Quinn, was conceived after they saw a photo on Instagram of Ms Reid standing on the plinth, which led him to contact her. He said: “It is such a powerful image, of a moment I felt had to be materialised forever”.
This morning, Bristol council announced that the statue it has now been moved to the city’s museum.
