A NEW sculpture serving as a meditation on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has been unveiled.

Boy with knife carnation by Wirral-based artist Brigitte Jurack is the sixth sculpture to be installed onto the Plinth. The work will be featured for the next year.

Boy with knife carnation is a piece originally conceived as a meditation on fear and uncertainty and the lingering potential of violence. The knife in the original sculpture is replaced with a carnation, which will be replaced to change colour throughout the year. In Ukrainian culture, different coloured carnations are used to symbolise different feelings and emotions. Red carnations, for example, are given on May 8 to veterans, white are given as a sign of pure love and pink to mothers to celebrate undying love. 

Wirral Globe: Boy with knife carnationBoy with knife carnation (Image: Kat Hannon Photography)

Brigitte said: “I am honoured to see this sculpture in the public realm at St. Nicholas Church. The contemporary hooded boy is at the threshold to adolescence, a time of turmoil and uncertainty. His pose represents uncertainty: How will he remain on the path of peace in the light of external and internal conflict?” 

The Liverpool Plinth is a public art partnership between Liverpool BID Company, dot-art and Liverpool Parish Church. Boy with knife carnation is the latest sculpture to be installed onto the Plinth. Established in 2018, The Liverpool Plinth is located at the Grade II listed Liverpool Parish Church, the Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas, and is managed together with  Liverpool BID Company and dot-art. 

Part of the Public Art Strategy, The Liverpool Plinth is the Northern response to London’s Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth. Celebrating and platforming sculptors, the successful sculpture is selected via Open Call, for artists living and working within the North of England. In 2023, this geographical area was extended to include the Midlands. The selected artist receives £1,000. 

Bill Addy, CEO of Liverpool BID Company added: “This year has been one where Liverpool has shown its solidarity with Ukraine, first hosting Eurovision on behalf of the country, and now with this opportunity to reflect on the conflict itself.

“Public art is something we passionately support at Liverpool BID as it does not just animate our public spaces, it has the power to force us to challenge ideas and allow us to raise the voices of those who need to be heard.”