News / Cleo Lake

Statue unveiled of Bristol lord mayor

By Martin Booth  Thursday Sep 13, 2018

“Who’s going to be the first person to take a selfie?” asks Bristol lord mayor Cleo Lake.

She didn’t have to wait for long, with gathered guests in the lord mayor’s parlour at City Hall on Thursday afternoon taking it in turns to photograph themselves with a 35cm-high statue of Lake in her full ceremonial regalia.

“This is definitely the most surreal thing that has happened to me as lord mayor so far,” says Lake, one of 25 women across the UK who has been honoured with a statue as part of the Put Her Forward project.

Independent journalism
is needed now More than ever
Keep our city's journalism independent. Become a supporter member today.

The incredibly lifelike statue was 3D-printed following Lake being scanned at the University of Bristol alongside Jean Golding, the founder of Children of the 90s and also now immortalised as a miniature statue.

Put Her Forward aims to recognise living women, following research that discovered that there are more public statues of goats in the UK than of women not of royal lineage or from mythology.

Out of 925 public statues in the UK, 158 are of women and of these only 25 are of non-mythical, non-royal women. There are also more statues of people called John.

Cleo and mini Cleo

Artist Cat Harrison from Put Her Foward said that Lake’s statue is the most flamboyant of the 25 they have made, with it due to be on show at City Hall this weekend during Bristol Open Doors.

“It does look a lot like me,” Lake told Bristol24/7 after the unveiling of her statue.

“But I’m more impressed by the ethos of the project if I’m honest. It’s inspirational and it’s a great initiative.”

Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
I want to receive (tick as many as you want):
I'm interested in (for future reference):
Marketing Permissions

Bristol24/7 will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. Please let us know all the ways you would like to hear from us:

We will only use your information in accordance with our privacy policy, which can be viewed here - www.bristol247.com/privacy-policy/ - you can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at [email protected]. We will treat your information with respect.


We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Related articles

You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Independent journalism
is needed now More than ever
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Join the Better
Business initiative
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
* prices do not include VAT
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Enjoy delicious local
exclusive deals
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Wake up to the latest
Get the breaking news, events and culture in your inbox every morning

Are you sure you want to downgrade?

You will lose some benefits you currently enjoy.
Benefits you will lose: