There’s a towering new statue between the Ferry Building and Pier 1 of a nine-foot-tall woman dressed in jogging apparel, and the work “As Sounds Turn to Noise" will be there on loan from a gallery in Los Angeles for the next six months.

It has long been pointed out that there are hardly any statues of women in San Francisco. And there is only one statue of a Black person in the city (sigh, it’s Willie Brown). But KGO reports there is a new statue of a Black woman just installed next to the Ferry Building, and it’s Thomas J Price's new work “As Sounds Turn to Noise."

KGO was there for the installation Tuesday, seen above. The towering bronze statue is nine feet tall, and it’s of a Black woman with braids, wearing a crop top and athletic pants, and staring aloofly into the distance and without much discernible expression. And that may be the point of much of British sculptor Thomas J Price’s work.


“When it comes to public art, who gets to decide who is memorialized? With his larger-than-life sculptures, Thomas J Price makes it possible for everyday people, especially Black men and women who are often not represented in sculptural art, to see themselves reflected,” SF Arts Commission director of cultural affairs Ralph Remington said in a release. “The Arts Commission is thrilled to partner with the Port of San Francisco to bring As Sounds Turn to Noise to our City’s beautiful and iconic waterfront where visitors and locals alike will be able to experience it up close and personal.”

The statue had been up at Los Angeles’ Hauser & Wirth Gallery for the summer of 2023, as part of Price’s exhibit Beyond Measure. All of those statues featured expressionless Black subjects doing mundane things, or nothing at all. The gallery said the exhibit “amplifies the visibility of marginalized bodies and challenges our preconceived attitudes towards power and value.”  

According to the SF Arts Commission, “As Sounds Turn to Noise" will remain on the Embarcadero “through January 2025, with the possibility of an extension.”

Related: Rogue Butterfly Statue Goes Up in Golden Gate Park, But City Hall Swats It Down [SFist]

Image: SF Arts Commission