Upside Down Woman Takes Place on W4th Plinth


Sally Gatie's 'Sky' unveiled as new artwork on Turnham Green Terrace

Sally Gatie’s 'Sky' unveiled as new artwork on Turnham Green Terrace
The new piece was selected by public vote last year

September 14, 2024

The latest artwork to be displayed by the piazza on Turnham Green Terrace was unveiled this Saturday (14 September).

The new piece to take up residence for at least six months on the W4th Plinth is ‘Sky’ by Sally Gatie who is based near Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

The work shows a woman hanging upside down with a blue sky and clouds background and was one of the top picks of a public vote held last year for which there were 500 submissions. The most popular pieces from this vote are currently being displayed in rotation.

A crowd of about 70 people assembled to see the unveiling and pure juice from local apples was provided by Abundance London.

Sally Gatie normally works with crumpled fabrics on large canvases, but ‘Sky’ is part of her Upside Down series which replaces her normal background with sky and clouds. She says this body of work shows the importance of holding on to childhood through a child's view of the world, dangling upside down in an upside down world.

The information board next to the picture states, “My world became an unfamiliar place as childhood gave way to adolescence. The grown up rules didn't make any sense, they only confused. Suddenly, innocence was abandoned and replaced, almost overnight, with adult games, and nobody explained the rules. Learning through older siblings, listening to whispers and mistakes...many mistakes. The world used to make sense. Now, even though well past adolescence, it still doesn't make much sense.

The W4th Plinth concept is borrowed from the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square which is a rolling programme of temporary artworks and ‘Sky’ replaces Giovanna Iorio’s Sonic Serenity which was in place since this February.

Sonic Serenity: Chiswick Bridge & the Infinite
Sonic Serenity: Chiswick Bridge & the Infinite

Abundance London is a voluntary organisation with charitable aims, founded in 2010 which works with local schools, volunteers, businesses, community groups and local government, harvesting surplus fruit, planting orchards, flowers and trees, trying to reconnect people living in the city with nature.

The ‘W4th Plinth’ initiative, which has been running for five years, is a collaborative effort between Abundance London and local artists.

The first ever display was in 2019 with pop art master Sir Peter Blake’s artwork The Chiswick Empire and since then new pieces from both emerging talents and established creators have been displayed.



Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.