Artist Marc Quinn puts sculpture on Colston plinth

Image copyright EPA Image caption Jen Reid posed with her statue, which appeared on the empty plinth on Wednesday morning

A figure of a Black Lives Matter protester has appeared on the empty plinth previously occupied by the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

A sculpture of protester Jen Reid was erected early on Wednesday in Bristol city centre where the Colston statue was pulled down last month.

Ms Reid had been photographed standing on the empty plinth after the Colston statue was toppled during the march.

Artist Marc Quinn said the sculpture did not have formal consent.

He said the black resin statue - called A Surge of Power - was only meant to be temporary.

Mr Quinn said he was inspired to create it after seeing an image of Ms Reid standing on the plinth with her fist raised during the Black Lives matter protest on 7 June.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ms Reid had been photographed standing on the empty plinth after the Colston statue was toppled during the Black Lives Matter march last month

He then contacted Ms Reid through social media and they worked together on the statue, which was erected shortly before 04:30 BST.

"I think it's something the people of Bristol really appreciate seeing," said Ms Reid.

"My husband took the photo on the day of the protests and put it on his social media. He was contacted by Marc Quinn who then contacted myself.

"I was in his studio by the Friday after the protest with 201 cameras surrounding me, taking pictures of me from every conceivable angle. That went into a 3D print and a mould was made."

Ms Reid said the sculpture was important because it helped "keep the journey towards racial justice and equality moving".

She said she had felt an "overwhelming impulse" to climb on plinth in last month's protest.

Image copyright PA Media Image caption People in Bristol stopped to take photos of the new statue on Wednesday morning

"When I was stood there on the plinth, and raised my arm in a Black Power salute, it was totally spontaneous," she said.

"I didn't even think about it. It was like an electrical charge of power was running through me.

"This sculpture is about making a stand for my mother, for my daughter, for black people like me."

'That charged spot'

Mr Quinn said the sculpture was meant as a temporary installation to continue the conversation about racism and did not know how long it would remain in place.

"It could be there for a month, it could be there for a year, but it's not what's going to be there forever, I wouldn't have thought," he said.

"I saw pictures of Jen on the plinth and she spontaneously made this gesture and I thought this is amazing. She's made an extraordinary artwork just by doing that and it needs to be crystalised into an object and put back onto the plinth.

"It had to be in that public realm and I wanted to put it in that charged spot where Edward Colston had been before."

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The statue of Edward Colston was pulled from its plinth last month and dragged into the harbourside

On 7 June, protesters used ropes to pull the Colston statue - which had been at the Bristol city centre site since 1895 - from its plinth.

It was dragged to the harbourside, where it was thrown into the water at Pero's Bridge - named in honour of enslaved man Pero Jones who lived and died in the city.

Bristol City Council retrieved the statue, which will be displayed in a museum along with placards from the Black Lives Matter protest, from the water several days later.

Quinn's previous works include self-portrait Self and a sculpture entitled Alison Lapper Pregnant, which was put on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Bristol City Council has been contacted for a response about the new statue.