Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth missed out on its equestrian, military hero as a result of 19th century austerity measures. It remained empty until 1994 when the then chair of the Royal Society of Arts, Prue Leith wrote a letter to the Evening Standard declaring that it should be a space for art, sparking public debate. By 1999, there was artwork on the plinth and it is now part of the Mayor of London’s Fourth Plinth programme.

Today sees the unveiling of the 12th Trafalgar Square sculpture, Michael Rakowitz’s the Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, which follows on from David Shrigley’s giant thumbs up, ‘Really Good’.

Rakowitz’s artwork is the recreation of a 3,000-year-old Iraqi sculpture of a guardian deity, which protected the gates outside the city of Nineveh. The statue of the winged bull was destroyed by ISIS in 2015 and the destruction was filmed for propaganda purposes.

Rakowitz built his statue using 10,500 empty date syrup cans, a nod to the loss of Iraq’s major trade export as a result of the ongoing war. Its unveiling corresponds with a pop-up shop for one day only that will serve traditional Iraqi date sweets.

Known as Lamassu, the winged bull sitting atop the fourth plinth is only part of the artist’s incredible art project, through which he is seeking to reconstruct the art and architecture looted from or destroyed in Iraq. Although he grew up in America, Rakowitz’s family are originally Arab Jews from Iraq, having left in 1946 after they worried for their safety.

The wars across Iraq and Syria have seen a mass exodus of people fleeing the conflict and devastation happening in their home countries. Rakowitz hopes to capture a haunting “apparition…a ghost of the original” in Trafalgar Square that celebrates the cultural heritage of Iraq whilst also reflecting on the horror the country has faced.

Visit the Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist in Trafalgar Square until 2020.