Over the past year, statues have been big news in Britain and across the world. 

Debates have been raging about what statues are for, which historical figures deserve to be depicted, and what should be done to statues of people whose views or actions don’t represent our values today.

Meanwhile, campaigns for new statues continue to gather momentum – whether they’re to celebrate popular figures from the present or recent past, to set right previous wrongs or to represent figures who’ve historically been overlooked. 

Liverpool is second only to London in the number of statues it has across the city. Fom joyful figures like The Beatles, through to war heroes, royalty, and, inevitably, problematic monuments to people who profited from slavery and imperialism. 

This summer, Sky Arts, Northern Town and Culture Liverpool will be taking on the city’s statues, and grappling with some of the issues around them, as artists, designers and members of the community give them a whole new look by dressing the statues up, or creating art around them. 

Some interventions will be celebratory, others will be confrontational – but as each one is gradually revealed to the public, we’ll all be prompted to look again, think again, and gauge how we feel about the statues that surround us. 

The almost 50 statues will be revealed throughout the summer and then the story of the project will be presented in a special broadcast on Sky Arts in October.