This Groundbreaking Statue Puts the Female Form on a Pedestal
In a city where animals are twice as likely to be immortalised in bronze as women, a new seven-foot statue celebrates the female body like you’ve never seen it before.
Did you know that in London, you’re literally twice as likely to find a statue of an animal than a named woman? (Let that sink in for a minute.) Thankfully, there’s a powerful new figure taking up space. Meet Mother Vérité, a seven-foot bronze monument to the unfiltered, unvarnished truth (hence the name) of the postpartum experience.
Conceived by Chelsea Hirschhorn, CEO and founder of Frida, and brought to life by British artist Rayvenn Shaleigha D’Clark, Mother Vérité is a testament to authentic representation. The statue was unveiled outside St. Mary’s Hospital’s Lindo Wing, a deeply symbolic location not only for its world-renowned maternity services, but also as a royal photo call spot. Princess Diana and Kate Middleton famously introduced the world to their royal offspring on these very steps.
View this post on Instagram
D’Clark, whose work has featured at top London cultural institutions including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Saatchi Gallery, used advanced digital scans of diverse postpartum women to create her female form. The result is not an idealised goddess, but a universal mother: her body a map of resilience, creation and transformation. Every curve, scar and swelling is rendered with hyper-real accuracy, celebrated by a reflective bronze finish that refuses to erase detail. Cradling her newborn, she stands tall in Frida’s disposable postpartum underwear, a quiet yet defiant emblem of a reality too often hidden away – even in 2025.
Mother Vérité will take up permanent residence in Portman Square from October 9, a bold and long-overdue tribute to the maternal form in London’s public art landscape.
