Bristol Black Lives Matter statue ‘will have to be removed’, mayor says

'I understand people want expression, but the statue has been put up without permission', mayor says

A statue of a Black Lives Matter protester that was secretly installed on the plinth that once housed Bristol’s memorial to the slave trader Edward Colston “will have to be removed”, the city’s mayor has said.

The monument to Colston, a Tory MP and philanthropist who made part of his fortune from the Atlantic slave trade, was thrown into the city’s harbour last month – sparking a national conversation on Britain’s colonial history and the figures the country chooses to venerate.

The plinth on which he stood remained empty until 4:30am on Wednesday – when a statue of activist Jen Reid sculpted by artist Marc Quinn was installed without the knowledge or consent of the city council.

Now Bristol’s mayor Marvin Rees has said the artwork, which depicts Ms Reid raising a fist from the podium as she did on the day Colston was torn down, will have to be removed.

“I understand people want expression, but the statue has been put up without permission”, he wrote on Twitter.

“Anything put on the plinth outside of the process we’ve put in place will have to be removed. The people of Bristol will decide its future.”

In a statement he went on to note that the statue “was the work and decision of a London-based artist” – and that finding a symbol the entire city could rally behind would be central in efforts to respond to the space left by the statue of Colston.

“We need change” he added. “In leading that change we have to find a pace that brings people with us. There is an African proverb that says if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. Our challenge is to take the city far”.

The statue carries on the tradition a long line of guerilla artworks installed without planning permission – including the charging bull outside New York stock exchange, which was erected in the dead of night by artist Arturo di Modica, and many of the works of Bristol-based graffiti artist Banksy.

Mr Quinn, who has in the past created works including a sculpture of his own head made with his frozen blood, said his testament to the tearing down of Colston had not been put on the plinth as a “permanent solution” – adding that it may only last days or weeks before taken down.

The artist, who had been following events following the death of George Floyd in the US, contacted Ms Reid after a friend showed him a photograph on Instagram of her standing on the plinth during the protest.

“My first, instant thought was how incredible it would be to make a sculpture of her, in that instant,” he said.

“It is such a powerful image, of a moment I felt had to be materialised, forever. I contacted Jen via social media to discuss the idea of the sculpture and she told me she wanted to collaborate.”