London mayor under fire for reportedly snubbing queen statue in favor of art celebrating trans prostitutes

 

The mayor of London is under fire from critics for allegedly snubbing an art installation memorializing Queen Elizabeth II in Trafalgar Square in favor of an art piece showcasing hundreds of transgender prostitutes, local media reports show

Labour Party Mayor Sadiq Khan approved £1 million, roughly $1.2 million, to fund Fourth Plinth installations in the city’s famed Trafalgar Square for 2026 and 2028, according to Express. The plinth has long been used to showcase contemporary art installations, and Londoners had anticipated a statue of the late queen to be installed following her death in 2022. 

This year, the London government’s website shows an installation featuring the "faces of 850 trans people, most of whom are sex workers," will be erected on the plinth come August. The art project will remain in place for six months, Express and GB News reported. 

The art piece will feature plaster imprints of transgender individuals’ faces, and will include their "skin cells and hair," according to the mayor’s office's description of the art. The installation is intended to decay, and will leave behind "a kind of anti-monument behind."

The casts will be created together with trans communities. Plaster will be applied directly onto their faces. As such, not only will their features be recorded, the material will also become infused with their hair and skin cells. London’s weather, means the work will inevitably deteriorate and fade away, leaving a kind of anti-monument behind. This will continue to command attention and put a spotlight on participants whose lives are often overlooked," the London government’s website states.