The Art of Social Engineering
20th May 2025
From the moment it was unveiled in Times Square in New York City on 29 April, British artist Thomas J Price’s 2025 sculpture Grounded in the Stars has been mired in controversy. The twelve-foot (3.65-metre) bronze depicts a nondescript black woman with braids and a Body Mass Index in the thirties range. Dressed in a T-shirt and trousers, she is posed with her hands placed insouciantly on her hips and a blank look in her eyes. “I hope Grounded in the Stars will instigate meaningful connections and bind intimate emotional states that allow for deeper reflection around the human condition and greater cultural diversity,” Price told Artnet back in February.