The Los Angeles-based artist Alison Saar has been selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the City of Paris to create a new public artwork for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The commission marks Saar’s first public project outside of the United States.

Her planned sculpture will focus on themes of international diversity and equality. It will also link Paris to Los Angeles, which will host the next summer games in 2028.

Saar was unanimously selected by a jury comprised of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, representatives of the IOC, and officials from the city of Paris from a shortlist of leading American artists who were invited to submit proposals.

“It is my hope that this work of art, a gift to the people and the city of Paris, will become a gathering space for the public to experience the spirit of friendship and interconnection across cultures and borders,” Saar said in a statement. She added that she wishes to “pay tribute to the rich and diverse communities of modern-day France.”

The work will be produced in France under Saar’s supervision as part of the artist’s commitment to sustainability.

“By employing French craftspeople, we are not only reducing our cost and our carbon footprint, we also are supporting local talents and suppliers,” Saar said.

Saar is the daughter of Betye Saar—a figure of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s—and Richard Saar, a renowned ceramicist and art conservator. The 68-year-old sculptor and installation artist is known for her work focusing on Black identity and history, social justice, and spirituality. Her sculpture of Harriet Tubman in New York City was one of the first major public memorials to a Black woman in the U.S.

The IOC and the Olympic Museum worked with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and city officials to commission the new sculpture, an initiative of Olympic Art Visions, through which the IOC invites a renowned visual artist to create an original artwork inspired by sport and the Olympic values to be presented in a publicly accessible space in the city hosting the Games.

The sculpture will be officially unveiled and inaugurated in Paris on Olympic Day.