An 18-Foot Black Woman Opens a New Door to London’s V&A

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An 18-Foot Black Woman Opens a New Door to London’s V&A

Thomas J Price’s bronze figures present anonymous Black people at heroic scale. After an installation in Times Square sparked a furor, his latest work welcomes visitors to a new museum outpost.

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Thomas J Price said a public sculpture’s installation, for him, was just the “starting line.” Then, he added, the public’s response reveals how “we discover ourselves, we see ourselves.”

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Ayesha Kazim for The New York Times

By

Eleanor Stanford

Reporting from London

April 16, 2026,

9:00 a.m. ET

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In front of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new outpost in East London stands an 18-foot figure, cast in bronze. In contrast to the carved statues of

monarchs and saints

framing the entrance to the museum’s main building eight miles to the west, this towering sculpture depicts an anonymous young Black woman.

She holds a phone in one hand as she turns, in a twist reminiscent of

Bernini’s “David,”

to look over her right shoulder with an intent gaze. Her hair is in two neat braids and the folds of her T-shirt drape luxuriously where they tuck into her jeans. She wears colossal Nike Air Rift sneakers.

The sculpture, “A Place Beyond” by the British artist Thomas J Price, is intended as “a sort of reverse lighthouse” to welcome visitors to the newly opened V&A East Museum, said Gus Casely-Hayford, its director.

On the bank of a canal just a few minutes’ walk from the recently opened

V&A East Storehouse

, the museum is geared toward young people and features items from Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection that address subjects including identity, creativity and sustainability.

Casely-Hayford said he had talked to students at more than 100 local schools to shape this approach to the new museum, which opens Saturday. He hoped that young people from the diverse neighborhoods around East London would see something of themselves in “A Place Beyond,” and feel welcome, he said.

Image

Price’s sculpture “A Place Beyond,” stands outside the new V&A East in London, which opens Saturday.

Credit...

Ayesha Kazim for The New York Times

Image

At 18 feet tall, it is the sculptor’s largest work to date.

Credit...

Ayesha Kazim for The New York Times

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