A towering 12-foot bronze statue of a young Black woman now commands the heart of New York City’s Times Square — and it’s doing more than turning heads.
Titled “Grounded in the Stars,” the sculpture is the latest monumental work by British artist Thomas J Price, whose art challenges long-standing norms about identity, race, and who society deems worthy of public veneration.
Installed at the intersection of Broadway and 46th Street, Grounded in the Stars offers a stark contrast to the nearby statues of playwright George M. Cohan and military chaplain Father Francis P. Duffy — both white male historical figures.
In their midst stands Price’s creation: a fictional Black woman, modeled from real-world observations and community input, who is dressed in casual, contemporary attire and posed with calm confidence. Her stance, intentionally reminiscent of Michelangelo’s David, forces passersby to pause and question why some bodies are immortalized in bronze — and others are not.
“Through scale, materiality, and posture, Grounded in the Stars disrupts traditional ideas around what defines a triumphant figure,” the Times Square Alliance notes. “It challenges who should be rendered immortal through monumentalization.”
Price’s goal, according to his statement, is to make public works that merge seamlessly into their environment, while simultaneously leaving a lasting emotional imprint.
“The intention of my public works is to become part of the place they inhabit… no matter how fleeting,” he said.
The statue will remain on view through Tuesday, June 17, as part of the city’s continued effort to bring contemporary art into public spaces. It also coincides with Price’s digital piece Man Series — a stop-motion video work featuring animated male heads — airing across 95 electronic billboards each night at 11:57 p.m. throughout May as part of Times Square’s iconic Midnight Moment program.
The unveiling of Grounded in the Stars comes amid Price’s solo exhibition Resilience of Scale at Hauser & Wirth gallery in New York City, which runs until Saturday, June 14. In both projects, the artist uses imagined figures based on a wide swath of community input from cities including London and Los Angeles.
“If these fictional characters are from a gender or perceived race that you have decided should not be at this level,” Price told The Art Newspaper, “and suddenly you see them presented in their gloriousness, it challenges people’s internal landscapes.”
With this bold addition to the city’s public art landscape, Price hopes to inspire deeper reflection around representation, cultural identity, and what it truly means to be seen.
