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In the heart of Times Square stands Grounded in the Stars, a 12-foot-tall bronze statue of an unassuming young Black woman, the work of British artist Thomas J. Price. Posed hands-on-hips and looking confidently ahead, she wears simple street clothes—a T-shirt and jeans. Grounded in the Stars is part of Times Square Arts Projects and is described as “A fictionalized character constructed from images, observations, and open calls spanning between Los Angeles and London. The young woman depicted in Grounded in the Stars carries familiar qualities, from her stance and countenance to her everyday clothing. In her depiction, one recognizes a shared humanity, yet the contrapposto pose of her body and the ease of her stance is a subtle nod to Michelangelo’s David. Through scale, materiality, and posture, Grounded in the Stars disrupts traditional ideas around what defines a triumphant figure and challenges who should be rendered immortal through monumentalization.”
The Backlash Was Loud…and Telling
Instead of quiet reflection, the statue provoked a firestorm of backlash.
Soon after its unveiling, criticism spread across TikTok and Instagram. Users mocked the figure’s posture, size, and perceived plainness. Some called her angry-looking, unfeminine, or even grotesque. Fox News’ Jesse Watters dismissed the statue outright, calling it a “DEI statue” and questioning why a woman who “did nothing” should be honored in public. We have grown to almost expect this commentary from people who don’t look like us but Watters comments were joined by our voices. “She doesn’t represent us,” they alluded. “She’s not the kind of Black woman we want on display.”
In a now-deleted TikTok video, Jeanine Uqdah shares her outrage, saying, “They really think we’re a joke. Like that big behind 12-foot overweight Black woman in the middle of Times Square, that is what they chose to represent us. That’s what they think about us, y’all. Big, overweight, just—there’s nothing attractive about the statue. There’s nothing appeasing. It’s like this monster, this monster of a Black woman who’s dominating. Like y’all know what it gives—this aggressive, overpowering, masculine Black woman. That’s what the statue gives. It does not give anything feminine, soft, strong. Powerful, fit, no. It’s a big, Black, fat, overweight woman in the middle of Times Square to take pictures of. Y’all—they really be playing with us, and until we recognize what is happening out here, they gonna keep playing with us. They’re gonna keep playing with us because we play with ourselves. Baby, this—this is wild, wild, wild.”
That begs the question—what kind of representation is acceptable?
When critics fixate on her nose, her size, her clothing, or her expression, they reveal a deep discomfort with the ordinary, particularly when ordinary comes in the form of a plus-size, full-featured Black woman.
This TikTok criticizes the statue as “embarrassing,” while an IG reel frames the backlash as evidence that Black women don’t want to confront their own natural appearance. Also on Instagram, @therealtoonz posted a cartoon that captured both sides of the debate, highlighting those who mocked the statue’s features and those who defended the representation of an everyday Black woman.
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