Fern Girl To Be New Artwork on the W4th Plinth

Transylvanian surrealist Cristina Schek returns to the piazza

A visualisation of how the new artwork might look when it is installed

September 1, 2026

A new chapter in Chiswick’s most distinctive public-art tradition will unfold later this month as artist Cristina Schek returns to the W4th Plinth with Fern Girl, a four-metre surrealist artwork in which the human figure dissolves into prehistoric vegetation. The unveiling takes place on Saturday 19 September from 2pm to 3pm at the Turnham Green Terrace Piazza, in a free public event hosted by Abundance London.

The arrival of Fern Girl marks a milestone for the W4th Plinth: it is the first time an artist has appeared twice on the site. Schek’s earlier work, The Ceiling in the Sky, was installed in 2023 and transformed the canopy of Windsor Great Park into a cathedral-like vault populated by angelic figures. Now, nature has moved closer still. In Fern Girl, the vegetation has taken over the figure itself, creating an uncanny presence that merges human identity with plants that pre-date the dinosaurs and have survived multiple mass extinctions.

Fern Girl replaces Plot Points by West Yorkshire-based artist and writer Tanya Meditzky, unveiled in January 2026. Meditzky’s work emerged from a long, offline process of mathematical experimentation, producing a structured yet intuitive composition that drew residents to the piazza for its launch. Plot Points followed Paris Study by Philip Michael Wolfson and continued the plinth’s tradition of showcasing diverse artistic voices selected through a public vote after a jury shortlist. With nearly 500 submissions in the most recent round, the W4th Plinth has become one of West London’s most competitive and community-driven public-art platforms.

Cristina Schek with Fern Girl

Schek, who describes herself as a Transylvanian Surrealist, sees Fern Girl as a forest goddess and an emblem of the natural year’s cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Built from layers of her own photographs — including ferns captured in London — the figure embodies deep time, resilience and the overlap between human and vegetal life.

“I love the idea that Fern Girl will live for months in the middle of London, on a four-metre wall,” Schek says. “People do not enter a gallery to find the work; the work appears on their way to the station, home, or their morning coffee. In Fern Girl, the ferns have taken control, and vegetation and the human figure are no longer entirely sure where one ends and the other begins.”

The unveiling will be led by Cynthia Valianti Corbett, art historian and Founder and Director of the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, who has presented Schek’s work internationally. She will be joined by Dr Karen Liebreich MBE, Founder and Director of Abundance London, and Aura Woodward, Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in London. The event is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Plot Points by Tanya Meditzky

Five days later, Schek’s work will also be presented at British Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery, both independently with Digitalism (Stand D11) and with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery (Stand 18). The September presentations continue a period of sustained public, museum and international activity for the artist, whose recent projects include Her Court at Wimbledon Museum, EXPO CHICAGO and the BFAMI Art Auction at Phillips.

Inspired by Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, the W4th Plinth was launched in 2019 and is curated by Abundance London, the environmental and arts charity behind numerous greening and public-realm projects across West London. The plinth sits on a Transport for London-owned brick railway embankment overlooking the piazza, itself part of Abundance London’s wider regeneration work. Previous installations have ranged from photography to abstract compositions to community-created pieces, reflecting the breadth of artistic voices the project welcomes.

A new artwork is installed roughly every six months. The project attracts hundreds of submissions—nearly 500 entries were received in the most recent round—before a jury narrows the field and the public votes for the winner. Over the eighteen months, the winning work and runners-up will be shown in rotation.