Trafalgar Square artwork sparks trans row after 'ridiculous' structure unveiled: 'Shoving it down our throats!'

Trafalgar Square artwork sparks trans row after 'ridiculous' structure unveiled: 'Shoving it down our throats!'

WATCH NOW: GB News panel react to Trafalgar Square's latest art instalment

GB News
Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 19/09/2024

- 12:02

Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) by Teresa Margolles has been unveiled on the iconic fourth plinth in London

The latest artwork to be unveiled on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth has sparked a fresh row on GB News, with the structure branded as "ridiculous".

Teresa Margolles's piece Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) has been picked as the new artwork displayed in the iconic central London spot. The artwork features the faces of transgender and non-binary people.


However, the piece created by the Mexican artist has been criticised for "shoving gender ideology down our throats" during a fiery discussion on GB News.

Sharing her initial reaction to the plinth's new feature, commentator Clare Muldoon said the artwork was "ridiculous" and claimed it is being "taken over" by the transgender community.

Trans artwork, Clare Muldoon

Clare Muldoon hit out at the artwork on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth, branding it 'ridiculous'

PA / GB News

Muldoon fumed: "It's not a piece of art. It's people's masks who are trans, who identify as trans, and they're taking over the fourth plinth into Trafalgar Square in the capital of the UK.

"It's such a small proportion of society which is which is not representative."

Disagreeing with Muldoon, political commentator Jonathan Lis argued that the structure is "definitely a piece of art", but that the panel can "agree or disagree on whether it is good art".

Responding to host Andrew Pierce's remarks that the piece is "a great lump of pointless art about trans people", Lis told GB News: "I think it's quite offensive to say it's pointless when these are commemorating some people who have been killed."

Trafalgar Square

Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) by Teresa Margolles has been unveiled on the iconic fourth plinth in London

PA

Delivering her verdict on the artwork, host Bev Turner questioned why a piece by a Mexican artist was chosen, as opposed to one created by a British artist.

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Bev fumed: "Why are we not celebrating British art and a British way of of portraying art? But also, the conversations you have to have with your kids about the trans and the non-binary issues, it's normalising psychological dysfunction around gender. I'm having it forced down my throat again!"

Muldoon agreed with Bev, adding: "We are, and it's such a small proportion of society. It's using the Mexican style of death mask, and then to use the trans lobby of virtue signalling, again, it's getting things down our throats constantly.

"We shouldn't be having the debate."

Hitting back at Muldoon and Bev, Lis argued: "When you talk about normalising, that's also really problematic and dangerous because trans people have always existed. You can disagree about whether people can change gender, but trans people have always existed.

Clare Muldoon

Muldoon claims that critics of the artwork will be branded 'transphobic'

GB News

"It's completely fine and legitimate to talk about trans people, to put trans people in art - some trans people are also British.

"Trafalgar Square is the centre of our capital, and it's not going to be there forever. It's completely fine to have them for a limited amount of time, to get people talking, to get people looking at art."

Muldoon stood firm on her argument, responding: "But when people actually turn round and say they don't like that piece of art, like we have done, we will be branded transphobic."

In a statement about her artwork, Margolles revealed that the piece was originally pitched as a tribute to Karla La Borrada, a 67-year-old trans singer and former sex worker who was murdered in Ciudad Juárez nine years ago.

She said: "We pay this tribute to her [Borrada] and all the other people who were killed for reasons of hate. But, above all, to those who live on, to the new generations who will defend the power to freely choose to live with dignity."

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