Author Description

Trafalgar Square is full of military statues, and one ghostly empty pedestal that's been waiting, undefended, for more than 150 years. Of late, the fourth plinth isn't so lonely: it's become the most significant public art space in the United Kingdom. Marc Quinn recently unveiled the sculpture that will grace it for the next 18 months to resounding tabloid disgust and critical acclaim. Allison Lapper Pregnant is a 13-ton, 12-foot high model of the disabled artist Allison Lapper eight months along. She has said, "I regard it as a modern tribute to femininity, disability, and motherhood. It is so rare to see disability in everyday life, let along naked, pregnant, and proud. The sculpture makes the ultimate statement about disability, that it can be as beautiful and valid a form of being as any other." Fourth Plinth traces Quinn's creative process, the piece's creation, and public responses, including calls to leave it in the square permanently.